The Last Alliance
by ilikeplainmandms
Summary: Leia and the surviving members of the Resistance scope out possible allies and an advantage over the First Order. Kylo struggles with his ascent to Supreme Leader, a title whose legitimacy is now questioned with the emergence of a weapon targeting Force sensitives. Meanwhile, Rey wrestles with her own darkness as she comes to terms with who she is and where she fits in this story.
1. Chapter 1

The discordant but upbeat music vibrating off the walls and tables of the cantina belied the grungy, almost slimy interior. Dark, yellow-brown walls, more likely years of alcohol and body fluid splatter than intentional color choice, encased a venue so thoroughly disreputable that even its equally doubtful patrons hesitated to lean against them. Still, there was a lot to be said for warmth and cheap, strong liquor in an outpost currently experiencing its first - and worst - winter in decades.

Commander Poe Dameron slumped forward on his bar stool almost lazily, elbows propping him up while he cradled a steaming drink. He resolutely decided not to think too much about the texture of the drink and remained happy to have the warmth on his hands. He lifted the cup to his lips, eyes darting around the room. His contact was supposed to have met him nearly half an hour ago. It was entirely possible the weather had held Sakk Lirogga up. Poe was the best damn pilot this side of the galaxy, and even he'd had some genuine, white knuckle moments landing in the heavy snow storm. But, Batuu was probably one of the safer places to exchange, well, anything. As he contemplated the other possibility, that this was a dead-end, a large, blue weethogg sat heavily on the empty stool next to him, challenging the hydraulics in the single leg. Poe heard a single low whistle as the stool dipped precariously low, then pumped back up, raising the weethogg back to Poe's eye level.

"What are you having?" Poe asked. Sakk grunted his answer, and Poe tossed some coins at the bartender. It was never a bad idea to preemptively be as hospitable as possible, especially to someone like Sakk Lirogga. Poe waited to begin until Sakk had his drink, a noxious, foul concoction Poe thought would go a long way stripping the dank walls of whatever unmentionable sludge stuck to them. Then again, that sludge might be the only thing holding the cantina together.

"It is good to see you again, Poe Dameron." Sakk said, voice oddly accented, as though his vocal cords were not made for the vowels and consonants of the galaxy's Basic language. Generally, Poe liked to discuss dubious requests in the native language of his contacts. It seemed to indicate a willingness to compromise and showed a very basic level of respect. However, humans were patently unable to communicate in Morggelor. That wasn't even what it was actually called. Most species, humans included, couldn't pronounce the name, much less speak the language itself.

"Likewise, Sakk." Poe lifted his cup to the weethogg and took a pull. "I appreciate you agreeing to meet with me."

"What are you wanting this age?" Sakk asked. He drained the contents of his cup and slapped it on the counter for the bartender to refill. Poe hesitated only briefly before pulling out more coins.

"I've heard rumors of a new weapons dealer who's just landed on the market." Poe said. "Real innovative. Tapped into a new technology that utilizes the Force."

Sakk choked on his drink. Poe reached a hand out to pat the weethog's back, but withdrew immediately when he realized Sakk was laughing. The obscene grunting was a cross between the mating sounds of a chupal and the mechanical grinding of a failed hyperdrive. Poe waited, sipping at this drink politely.

"Poe, you should reconsider the legitimacy of your sources." Sakk said, wiping his mouth. Poe frowned. "She is not a dealer. The technology is not new. And to say it utilizes the Force would cause Jedi and Sith alike to turn in their graves."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Poe asked. Sakk sighed, or what sounded like it might be a sigh.

"She is an engineer and a religious zealot. She defected from the Empire, before it fell apart. She was, uh, recruited into the First Order once her abilities were discovered. But now she's gone missing."

Poe shrugged, not sure why this bit of information seemed so important to the General. He waited for Sakk to continue, not trying to hide his confusion.

"I have no idea what she created as a proponent of the Empire, but it was enough to put a hefty price on her head." Sakk put his again empty mug on the counter. Poe paid for the next one without thinking.

"I thought you said she defected?" He asked. Sakk shrugged.

"Whether she left of her own will, or was forced to leave does not matter. She was presumed dead until a few months ago, when I began to hear of her again, in association with the First Order."

Poe inhaled deeply and tried to untangle this information.

"So Snoke is investing in - what? Religious science?" Poe shook his head. That didn't even make sense coming out of his mouth. Sakk laughed again.

"Snoke is dead. And no, I doubt he would have allowed her to live, much less within spitting distance of him." Sakk finished his third drink, smacked it on the counter upside down. "Whatever she created," Sakk leaned closer to Poe, "can contain a Force user."

Poe wasn't aware he'd stopped breathing. He tried to wrap his mind around that enormous piece of information. Snoke was dead. The Supreme Leader was dead. He felt a giddy excitement rush through him. What this meant for the Resistance, for their cause - Poe shook his head, hardly believing it. Was it even to be believed? He looked at Sakk, only to find the weethogg engaged in lively, grunt filled conversation with the mo-ir on his other side. And that was the extent of information that 15 credits paid for. Poe rested his hand on Sakk's shoulder.

"It was good to see you again, Sakk. Be warm." Poe swiveled off the stool. Sakk lifted an arm and grunted in response, returning to his conversation. If it was anyone else, Poe might have stayed out of concern - the mo-ir were infamous for their callous disregard for anyone who might be sold for a profit. He watched for a moment, eyeing two other mo-ir slide into place behind Sakk. A brief flash of silver behind Sakk, and it was over before it'd begun. The two mo-ir, throats slit neatly by a blade wielded with surprising grace in the large, burly, blue hand of a weethogg, dropped to the floor in a squishy heap. Their remaining comrade abandoned the heist and scurried past Poe back into the snowy cold. The music stopped briefly, and patrons held very still in the ensuing silence for only a moment before business continued.

Poe pulled his coat tighter around his chest, turning the collar up and hunching in to protect his ears and neck from the howling wind. He ran to his shuttle, only partially to escape the cold. Snoke was dead. It sang through his mind as a mantra of hope, and a new excitement swelled in his chest. He couldn't wait to share the information, eager to finally bring Leia good news.

* * *

General Leia Organa was in dire need of good news. The reassuring smiles she gave all 29 members - comrades, family - and the confidence with which she walked through the dilapidated halls of the abandoned smuggler's port were beginning to wear on her bones.

"General," Larma D'Acy nodded her head to Leia respectfully as they passed in the hallway. Leia squeezed the woman's shoulder, smiled, and continued down the hall. She reached her private quarters just in time for her stomach to growl. Leia ignored it. In the past couple of weeks since Crait, food had been scarce as the few remaining members of the Resistance hopped from one refuge to the next aboard the now very crowded Millenium Falcon. On board the ship, it had been easy to trick herself into thinking there were more survivors than the mere 29. With more people than the freighter had ever been designed to contain, the hot, sweaty press of too many bodies in too small a space belied the truth: the Resistance was all but dead.

A heavy sigh escaped the general. She closed her eyes, fingers gripping her cane so hard her knuckles turned white. Being on the Falcon again had stirred memories she'd thought were long gone. Little things, like the first time she and Han took Ben for his first flight. As a baby, he'd been fascinated by the stars, the race of lights in hyperspace, the slow approach to a planet. Those memories she found she could tolerate, cherish, even. Here, bunkered down in a decades-old pirate port on the Outer Rim planet Florrum, the not so cherished memories came flooding back to her.

She'd never been to Florrum, but she'd been to - and had knowledge of - many planets like it. Hideouts for the galaxy's most hardened criminals. Trading posts for smugglers. Han had been to Florrum. She wondered if he'd come to this very outpost. They'd argued - for weeks - about his illicit activities. That was what she'd called them - never speaking the words directly. He was a criminal. She'd married a criminal. And of course, she'd known that from the beginning. Why had she ever thought he would change? Ben. She'd thought he'd change when Ben was born. And for a few years, he had. And then, well, old habits and all. They'd argued. Loudly. And then he left, telling her only that he was headed to Florrum to meet with a client.

Leia opened her eyes and licked dry lips. She reached for the flask that held fresh water - warm, but clean - and took a generous pull. Thank the Force for Rey. Hailing from the desert wasteland that is Jakku, the girl - all powers aside - was adept at finding water in the most impossible environments. She and Chewie had left almost immediately after disembarking to hunt for palatable water, and returned with a hefty store of it, along with several small animal carcasses that tasted a little gamey, but had provided a couple days of food for everyone. Still, this couldn't continue indefinitely. Florrum was not a forgiving planet, and Leia had zero doubt that should they be found by other smugglers or pirates, they were as good as dead.

"General Organa?" An accented voice spoke softly on the other side of the door, followed by a gentle knock.

"Enter, Rey."

The girl opened the door slowly, hesitating before entering the room fully. There was a streak of grease trailing from the corner of her right eye, over her cheek, and down her neck. Leia smiled and stood, using the hem of her shirt sleeve to wipe it away.

"I think I've only made it worse," Leia said. Rey returned the smile, but it soon faded. Leia heard the questions that Rey wouldn't ask aloud. Are you alright? Are we alright?

Leia lightly gripped Rey's arm and pulled her down to the small cot. The two women sat in silence for a moment, before Leia opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, Rey took her hand in both of hers, turning to face the general.

"General Organa," Rey began, but Leia held up a hand. "Leia," Rey conceded. "Rose is recovering well. She is walking now, unaided." Rey squeezed Leia's fingers. "Pamich and Vober have re-routed the communications station, and - with Jess' help - have been able to set up a link that will reach as far as the Northern Dependencies."

Leia stared into Rey's eyes, leaning forward. Rey continued.

"Commander Dameron has sent communication that he will be returning no later than tomorrow evening, and that he has been able to obtain rations that will last the fleet for at least three weeks. The rest of us are working on getting two of the four A-Wings up and mobile." The four ships found in the docking bay had been a surprise to all. Even more surprising that they seemed salvageable. "I expect that to be completed within two weeks." Rey added. She squeezed Leia's hand again.

"We haven't given up yet. Neither should you." Rey finished, her voice firmer and less gentle now. Leia's face crumpled. It was admonishment, and she deserved it. It was barely two weeks ago that she'd told Rey essentially the same thing. They had everything they needed. At the time, it was the last vestige of hope Leia had. Now, it rang truer to her than ever. Her people were hungry, tired, wounded, grossly lacking in resources, and vastly alone in the galaxy. But they persisted. They would to the last of them, she knew. Still, she might be forgiven her despair, given everything they'd lost. Everyone she'd lost. Luke's last words still whispered to her. No one is ever really gone.

With a last gentle squeeze of her hand, Rey released her, and stood up. She pulled the door behind her, but left it slightly ajar. An invitation. Alone, Leia lifted her head to the rusted, metal ceiling and breathed in deeply. There was work to be done.

* * *

Rey slid underneath the 2nd level circuit board of the ancient A-Wing. The computer wiring was frayed, the copper filaments cracked, with a fine patina overlaying the delicate connectors. Rey readjusted her position, trying and failing to find a not so painful angle, the upper half of her body flat on the deck, while her lower half bent uncomfortably backwards so she could see the full extent of the damage. She wondered how long it would take for all the blood in her body to rush to her brain.

"Hand me the soldering gun," Rey said. Finn sat cross legged on the deck beside her, sifting through the tool box. He found it, or what he hoped was it, and put in Rey's outstretched hand.

"Can't you just - you know?" Finn waved his hand around, fingers wiggling. Rey twisted her head to peer up at him, frowning.

"What?"

"You know?" He wiggled his fingers again. Rey stared at him, unblinking. Finn huffed impatiently. "Use the Force?" He asked in a whisper. Kaydel Connix walked quickly past both of them, and Finn shot her a nervous smile. Rey snorted.

"Why are you whispering?" She asked, flicking the switch on the gun, letting it warm up. "I'm pretty sure everyone knows The Big Secret by now, considering that's how we're not all still stuck on Crait, or buried there." The red light on the gun slowly transformed into orange, then yellow. "Besides, I don't think that's how the Force works, or even if it did, I wouldn't know how to do that."

"What do you mean you wouldn't know how to do that?" Finn asked, incredulous. He'd watched in awe, as did everyone else, as the hundreds of boulders were lifted from the cave's exit, signaling they'd been saved by a living, breathing, walking miracle. "You trained with Luke Skywalker!"

The light on the soldering gun was now green. Ready for melting metal.

"I'd hardly call what we did training," Rey said, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone. Luke's voice echoed in her mind. Telling her how disappointed he was in her lack of resistance to the dark. No, not disappointment. Fear. The brittle clack of her staff against the beacon rod. Her own disappointment in what the legend of Luke Skywalker turned out to be. Guilt flooded through her. Luke may not have been all she'd hoped for, but he'd sacrificed himself so the Resistance would live on. He'd met Kylo Ren in battle - a fake battle, but no less costly to himself. Kylo Ren.

Rey's hands stilled, the soft sizzle of crackling, molten lead fading into a distant hum, almost an electric pulse. Rey thought she saw large black boots come to a stop above her knees, but the image was gone before she could twist her head around to fully see. The quiet buzz of the Force subsided back into Finn's voice. Rey came back into her body, with Finn's hand on her knee, gently shaking her.

"Rey? Rey!"

She sighed and flipped the soldering gun off before she melted the skin off her fingers.

"Yes, sorry," she said. She craned her neck and saw Finn's face frowning down on her, lips pursed. He sat back on his heels, the warmth of his hand leaving her leg.

"What's going on, Rey?" he asked. "You've been - well, I don't know what, exactly, but you've been different. Since Crait." Finn waited. Rey considered her answers. She'd been different before Crait. "Something happened on Ach-to, didn't it?" Finn asked.

"Yes," she answered truthfully, voice barely a whisper. Finn gripped her calf, and he leaned forward.

"Tell me."

"I-" Rey began, but couldn't continue. I have a profound connection with our greatest enemy. I trusted him enough to enter the belly of the monster and tried to bring him back. I failed. It sounded very simple when she thought about it. She wished she could make herself believe it was.

"Rey?"

She shook her head.

"Help me out of here. I'm tired, and it's late. This can wait till morning." She didn't specify the soldering together of metal wires, or the answers Finn so desperately wants. He didn't ask. He just stood and pulled her legs up as she pushed herself out of the compartment. Sitting up, she felt light headed and determined that yes, the blood did, in fact, rush to her head. Finn remained crouched in front of her. After a moment, he cupped her face in his hands, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. Rey squeezed her eyes shut. This simple affection, at once so wanted and so dreaded, stung her eyes. She'd never been able to control her emotions - rather the display of them. There was never anyone around to berate her for crying. Never anyone around to kiss her forehead when she did cry. At the outpost on Jakku, she tended toward anger to keep frustrated and hungry tears from falling and betraying her weakness. But alone, in her small home in the sand, she would cry, and laugh, and scream, and curse without compunction. It was a new experience doing so in front of other people. Again, her thoughts betrayed her, straying to the only human being in the galaxy who'd seen her cry as an adult.

She rubbed at her eyes, hard enough to hurt, and pushed herself to her feet. She dropped the soldering gun into the tool box and threw her arms around Finn, hugging him fiercely but quickly.

"I'm going to bed. Check on Rose, would you? I think she wanted to talk to you." Rey ducked out of the A-Wing, leaving Finn alone with the clatter and clanging of Kaydel's tools in the engine.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

General Armitage Hux stood tall on the bridge of the Absolution, hands clasped behind his back, chin lifted high. He surveyed the white planet beneath them, tinged with cracks of teal and blue, as he would his own personal kingdom. The frozen, crystalline Ilum shone as a beacon in the darkness of space, illuminating the bridge and casting a sickly blue glow against Hux's pale skin.

"General Hux," Lieutenant Chazy approached, extending a datapad to his superior. "Sector 7 Mining Commander Richou informs me progress has been made into the fourth level of the Halacine Pass. It should be cleared within the week."

Hux flipped through the datapad, skimming the report. This was excellent news. In the weeks since the rise and subsequent decimation of the Resistance forces, the mining expeditions had taken a back seat to the ensuing battles. The completion of the weapons construction had long since depleted the Order's kyber supply, eliminating the need for continued resource milling in some people's' minds. Thus, Hux's orders that the project be reinstated had caused a bit of a stir. Still, the Order's officers were eager to engage in any productive campaign after the humiliation of the previous weeks. Whispers of rebuilding Starkiller Base rippled through the ranks. Small ideas. Mistaking bigger for better. Always eager to repeat, never to innovate.

Hux was innovative.

"And what of the engineer?" Hux asked the Lieutenant.

"Seyla Ren has command of the Sovereign . Her report indicates a lead in the Chonsetta System of the Mid Rim region."

Hux grimaced. The Chonsetta System was full of ravaged, barely inhabited worlds. Torn apart thirty years ago by both Imperial and Alliance weapons, Hux couldn't think of a single planet or moon that would offer anything of value to a refugee, including food and shelter. Why would she hide there, of all places?

"Shall I deliver the news to the Supreme Leader?" Lieutenant Chazy asked.

"No." Hux closed the screen of the datapad. "No, I think it's best to wait for solid confirmation." Ren hadn't as of yet shown an interest in the tasks Hux laid before the other Knights. Why give him a reason now? "Dismissed."

Lieutenant Chazy saluted and left the bridge. Hux turned back to the observation deck, peering into the blackness of the void, but seeing beyond the soulless emptiness of space. He saw the winding pull of a thread. Perhaps it had begun with Rax, words spoken to a young boy too eager to rise above his father. Words that held their own kind of power, a light that threw the shadow of his father where it belonged - in the grave. Hux saw possibilities.

* * *

The destination loomed in the distance as a narrow, craggy mountain, constructed and finished with a dull metallic sheen. The Future Imperial Leaders Military Preparatory School. And wasn't that a pretentious mouthful? The shuttle descended to the landing pad, it's wings rising like a great, predatory bird. The platform dropped, and Kylo Ren stalked out of the ship, flanked by a half dozen troopers. The air here was stagnant, only made breathable by the artificial atmosphere constructed by the Order and J-Sec after the ravages of the Contingency. Kylo thought breathable might be a relative description. It stuck heavy in his throat, and he resisted the urge to swallow the dryness.

"Supreme Leader," Commander Teloran greeted him, bowing. "It is an honor. Welcome to Vardos. Allow me to show you to -" Kylo held up a gloved hand. He wasn't interested in formalities.

"What is the status of the Jinata suppression?" Kylo asked, marching forward without stopping, forcing Teloran to follow. That was the only reason he was here. The death of Protectorate Gleb left a gaping hole in the governance of the planet, as well as it's conscription projects in the sector. Kylo didn't care for the methods himself, but he understood the need and desire to build the Order's numbers.

The entrance to the school was more narrow than Kylo initially thought. Barely room for two grown men to walk side by side. He idly wondered if it was a purposeful design, created to instill the ideology of elitism and prestige. Few go in, fewer come out. The troopers behind him didn't hesitate as they walked through the doors. Did they pass through these halls once, alone and frightened after having been abducted from their families? Kylo felt the hairs on his body raise, a frisson of burning cold rippling through him. It was unsettling, to have these thoughts. More so to know they were his own.

"We've captured Captain Domba, my lord. He awaits your presence in the training room." Commander Teloran said, apparently having not noticed Kylo's sudden discomfort.

"You're unable to interrogate the prisoner yourself?" Kylo asked. He had a passing thought that this was to be his role now. Advanced Inquisitor. Supreme Torturer.

"We have, my lord." Teloran said. "However, as the highest ranking officer of Jinata Security forces, he has been very resistant to the droids."

Torture droids. It seemed a common plague of the First Order that no one was able to do anything themselves. With great innovation came great laziness, he supposed. Contract killers were they all, only the contracts got passed from one hand to the next. His now. The bloodiest? Probably his own.

 _Not by a long shot, kid._

Kylo whipped his head around, the voice seeming to come from all directions in the hall. His hand hovered over his lightsaber, ready for combat. Commander Teloran and the troopers stood at attention, deaf to the gently sarcastic tone.

"My lord?" Teloran indicated the way ahead, eyeing the light saber warily. Kylo straightened and resolutely followed him to the prisoner, ignoring the nagging tingle in the back of his mind.

Around the corner, the tight quarters of the hallway suddenly opened up into a vast room. Kylo looked up to silvered, vaulted ceilings, strung with chains and various implements of pain. The primitive tools cast foul shadows over the polished floor, and Kylo realized exactly what sort of training occurred here. With these methods, it was a wonder any made it into the Order's ranks, let alone remained. This absolutely would not continue, regardless of the Project's status. Resurrection, indeed. This place was a nightmare designed to produce hollowed out shells. It made him physically ill.

In the middle of the room was a metal slab table, occupied by a male aqualish. His hands and feet were bound. To either side of the table were small pools of blood.

"Leave us," Kylo said. Commander Teloran bowed again, before exiting with the troopers in tow. Kylo looked around the room, taking note of the pristine quality of the walls and floor. Except for Captain Domba's own blood, congealing below him, the room was immaculate, belying its purpose. Kylo approached the foot of the table, making mental note of the prisoner's injuries. Any aggressive exertion of the Force could drive a sentient being insane if they were healthy, let alone physically and mentally damaged from the start. Captain Domba lay completely still, all four eyes closed. His breathing was even and measured, if very labored.

"I know you're awake, Captain." Kylo spoke softly. His voice didn't echo, as expected. The interior must have been constructed with noise dampening material - and why not? Perhaps the sound of screaming had a tendency to lower the morale of the other students ?

"Just biding my time." Domba said. He opened his eyes, large, inky pools of black in a sea of mottled green. Kylo hadn't met enough aqualishto distinguish whether that was the man's actual skin color or if it was a sign of disease.

"What are you waiting for?" Kylo asked curiously.

"The end."

"I'm not here to bring you death, Captain." Kylo said. "But that's not what you mean by the end, is it?"

"Why did you come?"

Kylo thought about his answer. Officially, his presence was requested as back up to stamp out the Jinata rebellion. Now, he thought there might be more than one way to skin a bantha.

"This planet belongs to the First Order," Kylo said. "I'm here to ensure the transition goes smoothly." Domba snorted, blood bubbling out his mouth, below the protruding tusks.

"This planet was loyal the Empire, and to the First Order. And both failed us."

Kylo nodded.

"And if Hask were still alive, I'd have him in this room instead of you." Kylo said. Domba frowned. "It's unwise to forcibly remove a governing body without a replacement in mind." As the words left his mouth, the memory barreled into him, unbidden and unwelcome.

She hovered, kneeling in front of him, sweat beading on her forehead as she pleaded silently for both their lives. With the flick of his fingers, his grandfather's lightsaber burst into life. Kylo felt the moment it tore through Snoke's body, as though it were ripping through his own. But it wasn't pain. It was triumphant satisfaction.

"I'm going to be blunt, Captain." Kylo said, his voice more harsh than he intended, trying to banish the memory of his betrayal. "There are two ways this can end. The Jinata can continue in their grudge against the First Order and be put down by the armed troops waiting just minutes outside atmo." Kylo pointed his finger upward. "Or, they can step forward and accept the rule of the Order, as manifested by Commander Teloran."

Captain Domba's breathing was heavier, a gurgling sound emerging from between his tusks. Kylo leaned closer to him, just far enough away to avoid the splatter of blood and saliva with each exhale. He extended his hand over the captain's face, focusing his energy. The aqualish's mind was easy to see, as well as four different Jinata squadrons. Such extraction need not be painful, and Kylo had no intention of hurrying the captain's death. There was no resistance, no wall to break through. The images came to him as though through a holopad.

"It can't be easy, sheltering 400 officers in the Alasian Pass. It looks to be an unforgiving environment." Kylo pulled the information from Domba's mind and retreated, giving the captain complete autonomy in his decision. "Now I have what I came for. But you, you're dying, Domba." Kylo whispered. "Don't take your people with you."

Minutes later, with a bloody, choking cough, Domba gave the stand down order to his security squadrons. A tentative ceasefire was declared. Kylo released his restraints, moments before Domba's heart stopped.

Commander Telaron surveyed the bloody body with distaste, and remained a safe distance away, as though the fluids might somehow defy gravity and stain his uniform.

"Commander, you will arrange negotiations with the Jinata. This is over."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

Kylo looked around the training room, at the unmarred walls, the perfectly polished stone floor. Not a scratch, not a stain, nothing to indicate the horrors that occurred here. He wondered if there was ever a time that this was something he would have been ok with. Did it matter? He hated it now. Before he could rationalize a way out of it, his lightsaber was drawn and ignited, the red glow and crackling energy burning out the disgust he felt. Commander Teloran pulled a hasty retreat, his officers following him out of the room and down the halls. The storm troopers remained at the entrance, waiting. Maybe they were so accustomed to Kylo's destructive tendencies, that what followed didn't faze them. And what followed was sheer destruction for the sake of it. Kylo dragged his saber along the brilliant shine of the floor, sparks flying as deep, burning scars were ground into the stone. He hacked at the walls, gouging them apart until their very structure became questionable. Every swing and strike of his saber tore new holes into the room, until it finally bore the marks of its sins. Satisfied, he retracted his weapon and walked out of the room. Without a single murmur, without hesitation, the troopers turned to follow.

"Now it's over." Kylo muttered.

Hours later, Kylo re-boarded the Finalizer . He gave orders to remain in orbit around Vardos, in case of a last minute resurgence of J-Sec rebels, but he doubted that would happen. The Jinata had been wary, but relieved to emerge from the wilderness of their hideout. With a new treaty between them in the works, the planet once again belonged to the First Order. As Supreme Leader, it could be called his planet. He didn't investigate the reasons why he couldn't claim it.

"Supreme Leader, I've just received report that our troops are retreating from Vardos." The light of the holoprojection didn't do Hux's pallor any favors. "Why are we not pursuing the Jinata?"

Kylo thought that in any other situation, Hux might have stamped his feet like a child throwing a temper tantrum. That was it. The image was burned into his brain. Kylo knew it was only a matter of time before Hux tried to murder him, but the mental hissy fit he knew the general was having made it impossible to take him seriously.

"An intact, viable planet with a successful governing body that is loyal to the First Order is much more valuable than a burning husk of rock floating in space, General." Kylo responded. Hux seethed, which only delighted Kylo more.

"We are not here to make allies, my lord." Hux said.

"No? What would you like to rule, General Hux? A galaxy of the dead? A vast cemetery of wasted potential?" Kylo narrowed his eyes. There were only so many times he could Force choke the man before it would grow old and tiresome. Today was not that day. Hux's hands flew to his throat as he wheezed.

"As you deem worthy, Supreme Leader."

Kylo released him and severed the connection. The officers on the deck hastily returned to their duties, or at least pretended to. He thought it was a good thing to remind everyone that he was more than just the head of a military body. He thought it might keep Hux's - or anyone else's - homicidal tendencies in check - for a little while at least.

His quarters aboard the Star Destroyer were much the same as the one he maintained on the Supremacy. As the new Supreme Leader, he'd forgone the opulence favored by his former master, valuing privacy above all else, no matter the size or view. And what a thing privacy was.

Kylo couldn't remember the last time he was left to his own thoughts. He removed his cloak, his belt, and outer coat. Left in a loose black tunic and pants, he sat heavily on the edge of his bed. The silence around him, inside of him, was immense. At once wondrous and terrifying. He poked and prodded at the edges of his mind, like you would a wound. Continually checking for the extent of damage. Or healing. It was like he was testing it, baiting himself. He found himself doing this frequently everyday, each time withdrawing hastily, half afraid the cold, rotting voice of his former master would burst through and cut him to shreds. What did it say that he was almost disappointed when that never happened?

Satisfied that he was still alone, he leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. Kylo was beyond exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. He knew his own strengths and weaknesses. Diplomacy fell firmly into the latter.

 _Coulda had me fooled._

Kylo was off the bed, bent low in a defensive crouch, lightsaber ignited. He turned slowly, searching for the voice, muscles coiled tight for the attack. Nothing. His rooms were bare.

 _Don't ruin the moment. You did good, kid._

It wasn't enough to have had his mind invaded since he was a child. Now he was hearing voices. Not voices. One voice.

"Show yourself, old man!" Kylo snarled into the darkness. No response. Predictable. Even in death, the bastard liked to play games. "Coward!"

He felt the edges of the room disappear into a low thrumming buzz. A small, stifled intake of breath told him he really wasn't alone in his room. He turned slowly to face her. She sat near the entrance, legs crossed, the broken halves of his grandfather's lightsaber in her hands. She looked different than when he last saw her, almost three weeks ago. Her hair was pulled into a messy knot at the top of her head, strands hanging down, sweaty, in her face. Was she thinner?

"Who are you talking to?" Rey asked.

* * *

 **A/N** \- Formatting on this site is really getting me down. If anyone has any tips and tricks on how to maintain styles from the parent file, please let me know. Apologies for the previous chapter's multiple uploads and such.

So, disclaimer is that I've never seen or read anything outside of the theatrical trilogies. Everything else is research done online, and that disclaimer will apply throughout this story. So, if you see any errors, please tell me! Also, the quick updates that are going to be happening for the first few chapters probably won't be maintained forever. I have the first few chapter written already, you see. Other than all of that, happy reading! Let me know what you thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Rey hadn't exactly lied to Finn. She'd gone to bed. Curled up under the thin blanket, huddled in the little corner she'd staked out as her own in what appeared to have been a cafeteria of sorts, Rey lay awake. Every muscle in her body screamed for sleep. Thoughts drifted through her head at a light speed, however. She listened to the muffled conversations, snoring, shuffling, whimpering, and other noises of life in a room with 17 other people. Though it'd been less than a month since she left Jakku - gods, was it really only a month? - she'd forgotten the cold of the desert at night. The generators were cranking and spitting out warm air, and really in a room with 17 other bodies, you'd think it'd be too warm for comfort. She shivered. After tossing around for the better part of an hour, Rey threw her blankets off and hauled herself to her feet. She grabbed her staff that leaned against the wall next to her pallet, and picked her way through mostly still bodies, some awake and turning to her as she moved to the exit.

"Rey!" Ilica sat up, black hair sticking up at odd angles. "Where are you going?" She whispered.

"I left something on the Falcon. I'll be right back." Rey said, flashing a brief smile.

The halls of the old bunker were quiet, occasionally knocking or ringing with the tinny sound of old metal shifting. The single bulbs that hung from the ceiling every few meters cast a strange half light over the walkway, illuminating the numerous compartments in the walls that had once been used to hide weapons for a quick coup.

She walked silently, nodding and smiling to the officers stationed as guards. At the entrance to the bunker, Chewie sat on a crate at a makeshift table, several playing cards in his large paws. On the opposite side, C'ai drew a card from the deck and chortled, laying down a flush. Chewie let out a dejected wail. Rey smiled at both of them, her hand lifting briefly to squeeze Chewie's shoulder as she passed. Chewie grunted inquiringly at her.

"Just to the Falcon. I need some fresh air." Rey replied. Chewie trilled a warning to her. "Yes, I'll watch out for them."

The door slid up and then closed behind her. Outside was a sea of blackness, the stars the only light, and very little at that. The air was colder, but cleaner. Looking around, waiting for her eyes to acclimate to the darkness, Rey listened for predatory animals. In the distance she heard the wailing howl of an creature either becoming dinner or having lost its own meal. A large insect scurried centimeters from her feet, but not venomous. Hearing and seeing nothing of note near her, she walked carefully to the Falcon, easily avoiding the small burrows in the ground that contained the nasty arachs. They were not known to come out at night, unless disturbed.

When the door closed behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She was alone. And Rey thought that if the loneliness wouldn't go away, she'd rather feel it without an audience. The porgs that had made the ship their new home chirped in their nests. Rey wondered how long it would take before the crew broke down and ate them. She hoped they wouldn't. She found out the hard way that humans couldn't digest the little creatures very well. Besides, at this point in their journey, it would feel a little like cannibalism. The little creatures were pests, but friendly ones. She walked to the lounge and pulled open a heavy drawer. The books she'd stolen from the island were still nestled in their hiding place. Behind them, rolled in a scarf, were the two halves of the lightsaber. She took it out, unwrapping it carefully. Torn apart by light and dark. A legacy object that held no value of its own now.

A new resolve filled her. She was going to fix it, somehow. A Jedi heirloom. Maybe the books she took would have some answers? She flipped on the bright overhead light, pulled her hair up out of her face, and sat down to begin the work.

It was nearly morning when the floor began to tilt around her. At first she mistook it for exhaustion, but the tingle of electricity along her skin, raising hairs and chill bumps, made her realize she wasn't as alone as she thought.

He stood in the middle of the room, large and overbearing. His saber was drawn, and clearly he was preparing to fight.

"Show yourself, old man!" Kylo growled. Rey waited, her body stiff with muscles tensed so tight breathing became difficult. She couldn't see his surroundings, as usual, but it was clear whomever he was challenging would not make an appearance. "Coward," he muttered, and retracted the saber. Rey released a small breath, and Kylo went very still. He turned very slowly to stare at her. She expected him to charge her, throw something at her, or even try to choke her from across the galaxy. He did none of those things. She could feel the heaviness in the air between them. They had not - connected - since Crait. She waited for him to say something. Again, nothing. She needed noise. The silence between them was too full.

"Who are you talking to?" Rey asked. She tried to keep her voice neutral. Before their last connection on the island, Rey would have been sure he couldn't hurt her through their Force connection. But then they'd touched hands. Actually touched each other. She remembered the barest glide of his fingers against her own, the overwhelming feeling of solidarity, of sureness, of rightness. Here and now, that confidence was gone, replaced by the knowledge that he could strike her down with anything in his hand.

His left eye twitched, but other than that, his normally expressive face remained impassive. Like a wall built up around his heart and mind.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

"You know I can't control this, any more than you can," she replied. Rey was annoyed, tired beyond what she previously thought her body could handle, and not ready for this confrontation. "I'd think the new Supreme Leader could have figured out a way to sever a connection his dead master created. Or are you too busy ruling a galaxy you've murdered?" As soon as the words were out, she regretted them. Not for what they were. They were the truth, and he deserved them. She worried he would snap. She had no weapon that could counter any attack he would lay against her. As she feared, he stepped into her space, his face no longer devoid of emotion. The hatred in his eyes was clear as the day dawning outside. He knelt in front of her, an arm's reach away.

"And how's life with the defeated dregs of the galaxy?" Kylo asked softly, a malicious undercurrent rising to cloud the air between them. He looked her up and down, no doubt taking in the pallor of her skin, her greasy, messy hair. The evidence of exhaustion and hunger. "Ah, I see it's treating you well." He stood again, looming over her. She met his glare with her own, her jaw clenching. After a moment, he walked away, moving with an almost animal grace. He opened a door, though to where, she couldn't see. "I expect you gone by the time I'm out of the 'fresher."

Rey heard the door slam, and he disappeared. After a moment, she heard the water running. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. _There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity._ She read that sometime during the night in one of the texts she took from the temple on Ahch-to. I am one with the Force, Rey thought. I am one with the Force.

The clanging of large foot falls in the hallway startled her out of the forced meditation. Finn came to an abrupt halt when he saw her on the floor.

"Rey, are you ok?" He rushed to kneel in front of her, hands going to her arms, as though she might be injured. Rey frowned. Had he somehow seen Kylo? "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Finn, I'm fine." Rey unfolded her legs, finding them unpleasantly stiff and sore from being in the same position for so long. Finn pulled her to her feet. She froze when she saw the look in his eyes. "What's wrong, what's going on?"

"Poe's back." Finn said.

"Already? I thought he'd be here tonight?"

"Rey, be honest with me now." Finn said. He hadn't let go of her hands. Rey felt the first tendrils of fear curl around her stomach. She hadn't told anyone of her connection to Kylo. Only Luke had known, and he was dead. "What happened on Snoke's ship?" Confusion washed over her. She had also neglected to tell anyone of her massively stupid _miscalculation_. That particular humiliation and - yes - heartbreak was not something she wanted to relive. Chewie had seemed to understand, and hadn't felt it necessary to divulge the information either.

"Finn, I-"

"Rey, how did you kill Snoke?" Finn demanded. His eyes were wild, a grin splitting his face. He wasn't angry. He was gleeful. "And why didn't you tell us?"

Rey was at a loss. She had no words. As it happened, they weren't necessary, because she wouldn't have been able to speak if she wanted to. Finn pulled her behind him as they raced from the Falcon back to the bunker. Once inside, the entire Resistance, gathered in the hangar, erupted into raucous cheers and applause.

Rey looked around the room warily, as everyone crowded her, patting her back. She had never in her life been embraced by so many people. Poe reached for her and lifted her into a hug so tight she squeaked, and then planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. He grasped her hand and lifted her arm into the air.

"To the hero of the Resistance!" he shouted. The roar of the mob - her friends, truly - was deafening. Rey thought she was going to pass out. Her head was spinning, and her vision went a little blurry at the edges. If it weren't for Poe on one side and Finn on the other holding her up, she would have fallen.

"Give her some room. Let her breathe." Leia's kind, but authoritative voice broke through the clamor. More claps on the back, both her hands squeezed, and _could she have them back now, please?_ Leia stepped forward, taking Rey's arm gently. The general turned to address her people.

"This is a great victory in our fight against the First Order." Leia said. Rey swayed a little on her feet, but Leia was stronger than she looked, holding on to Rey's arm with one hand and gripping her waist with the other, all the while not giving away that she was supporting the taller woman. "We'll celebrate now. And then we plan. Our numbers right now are tiny, and our next move is crucial." There were enthusiastic nods. Leia could have told everyone to go collect Bantha druk, and they'd eagerly gather their shovels. "Commander Dameron, I believe I heard you mention something about getting your hands on some Chadian rum?"

Poe grinned.

"Everyone may have a drink." Leia said, holding up one finger. " _One_ drink. And then back to work." She smiled, and the relieved laughter and cheers continued. She pulled Rey out of the crowd, and they made their way to the vacated supply room. Leia closed the door behind them. Rey collapsed onto a pile of broken down crates and linens. She leaned forward and put her head into her hands.

 _You have no place in this story. You come from nothing. You're nothing._

And yet he'd thrown her head first into the melee of the galaxy. So now she was something. And like everything else she'd pretended to be, the stories she made up about her life, it was a lie.

She was bone weary, but her heart was racing. She was dimly aware of Leia pulling up a chair and sitting in front of her. The general took Rey's hands firmly in her own, pulling them away from her face. Rey stared at her, eyes glassy and resigned.

"Rey, why didn't you tell us - why didn't you tell me that you went to Snoke's ship?" Leia asked. Her voice was gentle but firm. And then it happened. The truth came out, all of it. Well, almost all of it. Luke's refusal to come to their aid, to teach her, what she found on the island. Rey knew her face was bright red when she explained in clinical terms her connection with Kylo. After a moment, warring with herself, Rey did not divulge her most recent encounter. At the end, she couldn't look Leia in the eyes. Her own closed, and in some way she felt relief that it was all out now. She waited for the judgment to come, for her sentence to be leveled.

Leia stood up and paced slowly about the room. She gripped the back of the chair tightly, staring into a distance Rey could only speculate was as dark and bleak as her own feelings right now.

"Ben." Leia whispered. "My son, he felt, he feels, he -" Leia stopped and swiveled in Rey's direction. "Does he know where we are?" She then looked around the room frantically. "Force, is he here, now?"

"No! No he doesn't know where we are." Rey said. "He can't read my mind, and I would never tell him. And no, he's not _here_. " Rey wiped aching hands over her eyes. "It's ok. I'll go. I understand that I'm a liability, now." Rey tried to stand up, failed. Gods help her, she was just too tired. She would go, but in a few minutes. After she got her feet under her.

Leia snorted, the sound surprising and very un-general like to Rey's mind.

"Don't be stupid. You're not going anywhere." Oh. So, she was to be a prisoner then. Leia must have understood how that sounded. "No, no. I mean, I'm not exiling you, Rey. For one, I trust you. Two, the First Order has a bounty on your head. I've no intention of sending an innocent woman - one who's done so much for - for me and mine - to a certain death." Rey gaped at the general, exhaustion temporarily abated.

"He put a bounty on me?" she almost shouted. Leia raised one brow. Rey shook her head. "I'm going to kill him," she murmured.

"Yes, my son has inspired that idea in many people for many years - since he was a child. Get in line."

"You're not sending me away?" Rey asked, feeling very small.

"No. This connection - as you call it - was forged between the two of you before we landed on this Force-abandoned planet. If my son, if Kylo Ren wanted our location, wanted to hunt us down here, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now." Rey nodded. "The First Order likely believes us to be effectively dead. Not worth their time at the moment. And Ben-" Leia paused, and Rey knew she was in dire need of sleep because she could have sworn Leia actually smiled. A real one. Straight to the eyes. And then it was gone. Leia sat down in front of Rey again, taking both her hands.

"Rey, can you do this?" Leia asked her. Rey frowned.

"Do what?"

"Can you be what everyone out there believes you to be?" Leia urged her. "You found Luke Skywalker. You liberated the last remaining members of the Resistance. You are powerful in the Force." She squeezed Rey's hands. "You _could_ have killed Snoke. You _are_ a Resistance hero. Can you - will you stand as one?"

"You want me to own this? You want me to let people believe I'm something, someone I'm not?" Rey asked. Leia shook her head.

"I want you to believe in what and who you are, and let others believe the same. Be the hero we need and the inspiration they want. Rey," Leia's hold on her hands was almost painful. "You are our hope right now. You are. They - and the rest of the galaxy - believe in what you can do. If they believe that, then they can believe in us."

Rey thought about what Leia was asking of her. It really wasn't so different from what she was already, was it? She fought with and for the Resistance. A month ago, she didn't realize there was a Resistance, or really what they were resisting. Jakku was nowhere, and the people who eked out a meager life in its unforgiving desert were nobodies. Kylo had been cruel, but he wasn't wrong. Survival was what mattered. The First Order, the Empire, the Resistance, the Rebellion, they were people, and actions, and events that had little effect on the brutal lives of people unlucky enough to live there. Now, she was in the midst of it all. She had a purpose that meant more than ripping parts from dead machines to be traded for powdered food. Maz had told her her belonging was ahead of her. Maybe this was it?

"I, I can't -" Rey sighed, giving in. "I can't think straight right now," she admitted. Leia nodded.

"It's ok, Rey." Leia pulled her up into a tight hug. "Go. Have some rum. I'm serious!" Leia said at Rey's face. "It will help you sleep. And we can talk more tomorrow." Rey nodded and trudged back to the celebrations.

Leia watched her go, her hands clenching and unclenching. The spark she'd thought was dead was now a raging fire. The Resistance had sympathizers. Once word reached them of the Jedi in their midst, they would become allies. She was sure of it. They needed a myth come to life again, a legend walking among them. And Ben. Leia wiped away her tears impatiently. Ben wasn't gone. Force only knew how, but her son was alive. General Leia Organa was hopeful as she hadn't been for weeks.

* * *

Seyla Ren's shuttle landed on the swampy, sticky planet of Thrace. The moment she she stepped out, her boots squelching in the mud, she began to question her life choices. Not really. It was all part of the game, wasn't it? Sure, she was traipsing around a dead planet, looking for an Empire engineer at the command of the First Order's most powerful general. It beat groveling in the mud, at the feet of a pretentious Jedi with an over-developed sense of personal purity. Word of Luke's death, though not exactly at Kylo's hands, had made her nothing short of gleeful. Old monk had it coming. Granted, she was none too tearful over Snoke's death, either. A sentiment she was more than certain Kylo shared. Once the little human rebel girl was captured, Seyla would be sure to congratulate and thank her before the execution.

Up ahead, Seyla saw the cylindrical, rusted power silos. Well, that was certainly surprising. She hadn't expected the traders on Shil to be so honest. People tended to say whatever they thought you wanted to hear when enough pain was delivered. Never stopped her though. She ignited her saber, and plunged ahead, hacking down tree branches and snarled vines in her way. She gracefully stepped over and around the roots and rocks that impeded the path. She slowed to a stop in the small clearing, the silos looming overhead.

Eighteen armed men and women emerged from the complex, their blasters pointed at Seyla.

"I'm looking for Chandra Lekk Masra." Seyla called out. "I think she's been expecting me."

"And why would Dr. Lekk Masra play host to a Twi'lek Sith?" One of the smaller guards asked. It took Seyla a minute to process what he'd said. Then she doubled over in laughter.

"The Sith are dead, little man. Get your head out of the holodramas."

Without further warning, the guards began to fire upon her. Seyla leaped in the air, her saber flying and deflecting each bolt of energy. She spun off the trees, which moments later were decimated by the guns. Gaining ground quickly, moving to the side, forwards, backwards, then again, she cut down all but one of the guards. The last kept firing, each blast sent off in another direction. She grasped his throat in her hands and lifted him off the ground.

"I'm looking for Chandra Lekk Masra." Seyla repeated, smiling. Nothing got her blood pumping faster than a fight. It was better than sex.

"You've found her."

Seyla turned her head toward the new voice. With a twist of her wrist, she snapped the guard's neck and let him drop to the ground. She retracted her saber and clipped it to her belt. Chandra Lekk Masra looked like an average female human, if aged. Seyla stood in front of her, looking down.

"You were right." The doctor said. "I've been expecting you." She turned around and headed back into the complex. Seyla followed on her heels.

* * *

 **A/N -** Another update! So soon! Just kidding. Like I said, I've had the first few chapters written. It's the formatting that's taking forever for me, for some reason, and I simply have no patience. But, thanks for reading! Thoughts?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Rose eased herself onto the creeper board and rolled under the A-Wing to access the sublight engine. She still had the pleasant taste of rum in her mouth, sneaking sips of it from Finn's cup. Still technically grounded on medical, she wasn't supposed to have had any alcohol, but, dammit, she'd earned it. They all had. And now, to hear that the Supreme Leader was dead, killed by the Jedi Rey? It was a miracle, is what it was. She wished she could have seen Rey lifting the boulders from the cave. Finn and Poe had told her about it, awe coloring their voices. Neither of them had seen anything like it before. To think, a real Jedi was here, fighting with the Resistance! Excitement made her miss her aim, and she smashed her finger with the wrench she was using as a hammer.

"Kriffing sithspit!" Rose shook her hand out, bringing her finger to her mouth. Her finger throbbing, she returned to the task at hand. This starfighter was actually in really good shape, only needing work on one of the engines. Rose had already fixed the left wing stabilizer. Still, these weren't the greatest ships in the galaxy. Prone to drama, she thought. Fast, though, and agile if you knew how to work them.

Delicate sensibilities, too. Rose eased the last screw into the hole, careful to angle it just right with the sine bar. 32.67 degrees. Not a hair more or less. Or the engine could fail. Fun times. Just a little more. Rose smiled.

"Gotcha."

The screw in place, she fired up the soldering gun to seal it. It was good to be working again. She believed in the Resistance with every fiber of her being. But physical combat was not her forte. She wasn't ashamed, and gods knew she would never back down from a fight.

Satisfied, she rolled out from underneath the ship to let the metal cool down. It would need a least a full day. She sat up slowly, still feeling the pain of broken ribs and organ damage. Most of her injuries had healed, but without a full bacta tank, complete recovery would have to be done by nature herself.

"Oh, man! I cannot wait to fly one of these!" Poe said, practically skipping. Rose laughed, shaking her head.

"Well, it shouldn't be too long before that is a possibility," Rose replied, wiping grease off her hands. "Although, I wouldn't take any of them for any deep space runs just yet. Maybe give them a run planet-side for a bit first." She patted the hull of the craft affectionately. "Not gonna lie, they're solid but old." She braced herself to stand, thought better of it, and turned her body awkwardly to try and wiggle her way up.

Poe extended a hand to her, carefully pulling her to her feet. He'd given up trying to keep Rose down from working. Instead, he tried to make sure she was just going easy on herself while doing it. Besides, they needed the A-Wings up and running as soon as possible. Poe wasn't ashamed to admit he was willing to push his comrades to that end. The Resistance's allies had been depressingly silent during the battle on Crait, but they were still out there. He had to believe that. And the sooner they had more than just the Falcon and the starfighter he'd _commandeered_ as transportation, the sooner they could confront said allies and drum up support, of all kinds. They were low on food - well, _real_ food. The rations he confiscated from a trading post on Jakku (Force, he hated that planet), would provide sufficient nutrition, but it was absolutely unfit for a bantha, taste wise. Poe recalled the girl Rey's reaction to the small packets, how she grabbed one, cooked it up, and eagerly sat down, chewing happily. Granted they were all pretty hungry, but she practically attacked the food, polishing it off in record time, before disappearing to sleep. He wondered if, having grown up on the desert planet, that food was considered _good_?

The hangar door banged open, and Poe and Rose turned around to see who had arrived.

"Finn, my man!" Poe grinned widely. Finn flashed a cautious smile of his own when Poe gave him a friendly slap on the back. Poe watched Rose's gaze turn to her hands, as she inspected her nails, then turned an intense interest to her palm. Finn had shoved his hands in his pockets, lower lip tucked in, looking everywhere but at Rose. The corner of Poe's mouth tilted up in a half smile, dark eyes settling on a point between the two younger people. He was happy for them. Of course he was. He removed his hand from Finn's shoulder, noticing the stitching he'd done on the jacket was already beginning to fray. Of course it was.

"Well, I'm going to go check on the communications project, see how it's, uh, coming along," Poe said. He turned to leave, but Finn grabbed his arm.

"Wait, I was looking for you." Finn said. Poe crushed the small, traitorous spark that briefly ignited inside his chest.

"Whatcha need, my friend?"

Finn frowned and looked around the hangar, making sure they were alone. His hands clenched and unclinched. Poe reached out and squeezed his upper arm.

"Hey, what's going on?" Poe asked softly. "Talk to us."

"It's about Rey."

* * *

Had Rey known she was the topic of whispered, clandestine discussion amongst her friends, she might have turned her staff happily against a tech droid. As it was, the silent stares, too-wide smiles quickly extinguished once they thought she was out of sight, and general tip-toeing around her made her feel very - well, very sleepless. Not that that behavior came from everyone in their fleet. Finn was Finn. His unabashed care for her was a light, plain and simply. She loved him dearly, her first friend. And anyone he loved, she loved, too. It was easy for Rey to think of Finn, uncomplicated. She hadn't exchanged more than a few words with Rose, who was still recovering from her injuries. But the young woman seemed good. That was it. Just, just good. Everything about her radiated kindness. Again, it was something Rey wasn't accustomed to. Poe was, well, Rey didn't have a good read on Poe. But he never did anything by halves, of that she was sure. And Rey knew that lying wasn't just against his nature. She was certain he lacked the skill of subtlety, was incapable of being anything other than upfront and honest. And the General - Leia, Rey mentally corrected herself, as Leia would have demanded of her - she was, well, she was subtle.

Rey swung her staff at the invisible opponent in front of her. That wasn't to say she didn't respect and love Leia. Because she did. And maybe there were no buts. Maybe Rey was overthinking everything? She twirled, bringing the weapon under the legs of her enemy. It felt good to be practicing again. She'd read what she could of the Jedi texts, but half of it was indecipherable and the other half may as well have been, for all the sense it made. She felt a stab of guilt for wishing she held the lightsaber in her hands instead of her old bo staff. Guilt that she would so easily abandon an inanimate object that had been her constant companion for the better part of a decade. Something deeper than guilt that the lightsaber in question was now in two parts.

Her moves became faster, harder, every muscle straining with the effort. Sweat rolled down her face and neck. Her hair came undone from the single bun she'd quickly tied it into, strands now plastered to her face. All exhaustion was gone. Moving swiftly from every position, she couldn't be faulted for not noticing how the air changed. She spun, staff twirling around her before she brought it down on the head of Kylo Ren.

Rey froze, lungs heaving, staff gripped tight in both hands. Kylo stood before her, arms raised, blocking her deadly blow with his own pair of maces. Everything in the empty supply room was silent. It was only the two of them, the only sound their labored breaths. Kylo's hair stuck to his face and neck. His skin shone with sweat, chest heaving as he stared her down. Rey knew his intentions before he moved, saw the muscles in in his arms tighten, his jaw clench. Then he thrust upward, pushing her staff and her away. She whirled around, bringing it lower to take his legs. He blocked the move, spinning to swing one heavy mace toward her neck. Rey easily knocked it aside, raising the other end up to catch his hip. They circled each other. Two steps forward, one step back. To the side, and another blow, parry, blow, parry.

Kylo advanced on Rey, and she brought her staff up. He caught it, pinning it between both maces. Rey's left leg caught between his. Kylo's hip pressed into hers. She could feel the heat rolling off him in waves, or maybe it was her? She didn't know at this point. Every breath she exhaled blew the loose strands of his hair. Rey saw his throat move, felt a lump forming in her own.

"Yield," Kylo said, voice low.

"I'll only lose if I yield," Rey bit out.

"You'll lose if you don't."

Rey shook her head and gripped her staff tighter, violently rocking side to side, as though it would free her from his grasp. Kylo's grip remained firm. He slid his leg between hers, hooked his foot around her calf and pulled. She went down but not forcefully. She still held her staff, as did Kylo. He bent forward with her, going to one knee, lowering her to the floor rather than letting her fall.

"I'll make it easy for you," Kylo said. Rey snorted, wrestling to keep a firm hold on her weapon.

"Big of you, but not necessary." Rey twisted her body beneath his and released her staff. It threw Kylo off balance just enough that he nearly fell backwards, throwing his leg out to catch himself. Rey was on him in seconds. Her staff clattered to the floor as she pushed him to his back, knees on either side of his hips. Her hands gripped his, forcing the maces against his throat. She felt him raise both legs, so she leaned forward until their chests touched, barring him from putting her in a triangle choke.

"Yield," Rey demanded, pressing her weight against him, pushing the crossed maces further against his throat. Her hair hung down, the ends barely brushing Kylo's face. He held her gaze for a moment, eyes boring into hers, before they dropped a fraction. Rey felt a rush of heat from her face to her toes, scorching her skin before burrowing deep into her veins. She swallowed against a suddenly dry throat, saw Kylo track the movement with his eyes. When they met hers again, they were impossibly dark. Rey felt him relax his grip on the maces, no longer pushing against her. She eased her weight back, taking some of the pressure off his throat. Almost imperceptibly, he followed her movement, stomach tensing beneath her as he held himself a few centimeters off the floor. She leaned back; he moved forward.

Rey heard a mechanical chirping. They both turned their heads toward the sound, and then he was gone. Rey knelt alone on the floor of the truly empty supply room she'd commandeered as a training space. She slumped forward, arms stretched out in front of her, feeling the muscles in her spine and shoulders stretch, tried to slow her breathing and racing heart. She had no idea how long she remained that way until Rose found her.

* * *

Kylo had destroyed many inanimate objects in his life, but never so thoroughly as the mobile holocomm that had briefly held a projection of Hux's pasty face. It lay in pieces at his feet, shards of glass and metal scattered across the floor of his training room. He leaned back against the wall, and closed his eyes, running a hand through his damp hair. He could still feel the ghost of Rey's hair against his cheeks, the press of her legs against his ribs, the heat of her over his -

Kylo pushed away from the wall, throwing the maces to the floor where they crashed in an angry, metallic bang. He flung the door of the refresher open, twisted the faucet into life, and stripped his boots and pants off before stepping under the cold spray.

A half hour later, he emerged, shivering but more in control. No sooner had he finished dressing when his holopad lit up, and the General's disapproving frown twisted into a ridiculous caricature of subservience.

"My Lord, I've been trying to reach you," Hux said. "I have received word from our informants of an uprising on Athulla. Nothing too troublesome, as I understand it, mostly children," Hux sniffed. "Still, it isn't something to ignore. Never hurts to make an example."

Kylo said nothing, studying a map of the system. It was one of many planets the Order had used to _recruit_ new soldiers for their ranks.

"Shall I send Commander Wetch?" Hux prompted. Kylo closed the system map.

"No, I'll go myself."

"Supreme Leader, don't you think it is unwise to personally interfere in such a small skirmish?" Hux asked in a bored tone.

"Don't you think it's unwise to continually question the command of the Supreme Leader, General?" Kylo responded, hooking his lightsaber to his belt. He fastened his cloak around his shoulders, and pulled his cowl over his head. Thus far, he'd rejected any change in attire, just as he had dismissed any offers of new living quarters. He heard Hux sigh heavily behind his back.

"Of course, My Lord."

The holopad light went out, and Kylo was left mercifully alone again. He spun and walked out of his quarters with purpose.

* * *

"Drink this," Rose held out a flask to Rey. She didn't comment on the redness of the Jedi's face, or the dampness on her face that was more than sweat. Rey grimaced, but took the flask. She'd expected hard liquor, but was pleased to discover it was only water. She greedily gulped down half the container and wiped her mouth with her arm. "I see you've been putting yourself through the ringer," Rose said. She carefully bent down, folding her legs underneath her to sit across from Rey on the dirty floor.

"I needed to work off some energy," Rey said. Rose snorted.

"What energy? You aren't sleeping."

Rey's eyes shot up to Rose's. Did everyone know her personal habits now? Rose shook her head, though Rey didn't speak the thought aloud.

"Beware the quiet ones," Rose said with a smile and winked. Rey laughed a little and wiped her face.

"Is it the lack of privacy?" Rose continued. Rey drew little doodles in the dirt on the floor. "I mean, Finn told me you came from Jakku. I've never been, but I hear it's not heavily populated." At that, Rey laughed full and hard. That was a euphemism and a half.

"No, no it's not!" Rey shrugged and took another drink. She studied Rose for a minute, a smile playing at her lips. "How long have you been with the Resistance, Rose?"

"Three years," Rose said. "My sister and I met the General on D'Qar."

"You have a sister?" Rey had never thought what it would be like to have a sibling. She thought the closest she'd come was Finn. And that was more than she'd ever thought possible, for a family. Rey sensed she'd misstepped. Rose stared at her legs, fingers twisting the pendant she wore around her neck.

"I did. She's gone, during battle." Rose looked up and smiled through wet eyes. "She saved all of us, you know?"

Rey was not good with comfort. It wasn't that she didn't want to give it, but it wasn't something she was familiar with. Nonetheless, she reached out a hand and clasped Rose's.

"No, I don't know. Tell me about her?" Rey asked.

An hour later, she and Rose were doubled over, as the woman recounted a particularly heinous and brilliant prank played against the mining commander on Hays Minor.

"And he never found out it was Paige?" Rey asked, face red from laughing. Rose shook her head, different tears streaming down her face now.

"No! He waddled around for a week, and couldn't sit without a cushion on his bum!" Rose choked out. Rey shrieked with delight. She wiped tears away from her face, trying to catch her breath.

"She's amazing, your sister," Rey said when she could breathe again. Rose sniffed hard, her smile easier now.

"Yeah. Yeah, she was," Rose said. "You know, I thought she was my purpose for the longest time, forever, really. And then she was gone." She stared intently at Rey. "I think the hardest part was realizing and accepting my life has meaning beyond Paige."

"The Resistance," Rey said. Rose shook her head, surprising Rey.

"The Resistance is just a name. Just a name for a group of people who share similar beliefs." Rose wiggled on the floor, trying to get into a more comfortable position. "Purpose isn't just one thing. It's a lot of things. I'm a mechanic. A damn good one, too. But that's small. My larger purpose is to help restore goodness and light and hope to the galaxy. By working with a group of people who also believe that. And they do it in small ways, too. Some are pilots, some are engineers. We all play a part."

Rey knew all of this. Of course she did. But maybe it needed to be said to her aloud. Now she understood it.

"If you weren't a Resistance mechanic, how would you, I don't know? Live purposefully?" Rey asked her.

"What Paige and I did on Hays. Prank the slave drivers. Stage coups in the ranks. Release an entire stable of fathiers."

Rey laughed, nodding.

"Well done," she said. A new resolve filled her. The void was still there. Maybe it always would be. But didn't that mean she had to keep moving forward, keep _doing_? She leaned forward and lightly hugged Rose, careful to not squeeze too hard against the woman's injuries. She then stood and extended a hand toward her to help her up.

"I need to speak to General Organa," Rey said. "I'll see you at dinner, yeah?"

"Oh, yes! Can't wait for more veg-meat and polystarch!" Rose said, grimacing. Rey grinned ruefully.

"It's not so bad, once you get used to it."

"I hope we don't have to get used to it!" Rose said. They left the makeshift training room together, parting ways at the common quarters.

Rey didn't have long to search for Leia. The General was poring over a holographic map of the Outer Rim territories.

"General, do you have a moment?" Rey asked. Leia turned toward her, face inscrutable.

"Of course, Rey."

The map projection remained behind Leia, as she gave Rey her complete attention. Rey drew a deep breath.

"I'm ready," she said.

Leia smiled hugely.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! I think I might have formatting under control now, so I've got that going for me.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** This chapter comes with a content warning. There's nothing explicit or graphic, but this chapter involves children in not-so great situations. There is brief suggestion of cannibalism and child slavery. There is NO actual depiction of either. I'm sorry if this causes you to stop reading, but I'd rather you know and be comfortable with what you read rather than be surprised and upset.

 **Chapter Five**

Leia was ecstatic. Her communication thus far, or lack thereof, with their allies in the Outer Rim was depressing, to say the least.

"Stand here, let me look at you." Leia said, beckoning Rey forward. The young woman frowned, smoothed rumpled clothing down self consciously. "Turn around." Leia commanded. Rey remained motionless. Leia swirled her finger in the air, urging her to turn. Slowly, back ramrod stiff, Rey did so.

Leia smiled and nodded to herself. Back when she was running for Senator, she'd had assistants to help create and organize her campaign. And money to do so. Now she had herself and two communication techs.

"Connix, get Pamich and Vober for me, please. And Finn. Bring Finn." Leia ran her hands down Rey's arms, stopping to hold her hands tightly. "You need a bath, and some clean, unwrinkled clothes." Leia said.

"General Organa, I don't think -" Rey began, but she was promptly hushed.

"Hop to it!" Leia said, turning her around bodily and pushing her out the door.

"General Organa, you sent for us?" Vober Dand stood at attention. Pamich Nerro wasn't quite so formal, but respectful in her attention, nonetheless.

"I need a cam set up. There should be one still in the Falcon. If it doesn't work, we'll have to work with BB-8's recording system."

"Yes, ma'am," Pamich headed to the Falcom to retrieve the equipment. Vober remained standing.

"General, are we filming a holodrama?" It was said with only the slightest disbelief. Vober would stand on one leg and jump up and down if Leia asked it of him.

"We are waging war, Vober. And we're starting with the hearts and minds of the galaxy."

* * *

Kylo descended upon mass chaos in Athulla's largest outpost, Nethul. He drew his lightsaber almost immediately, ducking a blaster bolt to the head and deflecting another. Hux had been right. They were children. He'd been briefed over the situation moments before they landed. The Jinata System, still reeling from the J-Sec rebellion and loss of it's governing body, had erupted into tiny rebellions over the various planets and moon. An unfortunate casualty were the children. Once Project Resurrection was suspended, the trainees and recruits - read, abductees - were left without caretakers and a lot of resentment. But there should have been more of them.

Even as he sidestepped an incoming blaster bolt, Kylo counted 14 insurgents. If they could really be called that. They ranged in age from 10 to 15, he suspected.

Enough of this, he thought. He swept his arm from under his cloak, drawing on the Force, freezing the small group of militant kids in their tracks.

"Disarm them," he told the troopers behind him. One by one, their blasters were taken out of their hands, some mid-fire. Even though they were frozen in place, Kylo could see their faces transformed from angry to a mix of terror, shock, and awe. They'd likely never seen a Force user, let alone one as powerful as he.

 _Don't let it go to your head, again._

"Oh good, here I thought you'd left me in peace," Kylo murmured under his breath.

 _You were having a private moment earlier. I didn't want to intrude._

Kylo had the very uncomfortable sensation of his ears turning scarlet, and clenched his fist. It wouldn't do to start swinging his saber madly at a ghost, not in front of his soldiers on the battlefield.

 _We will, however, discuss the matter of Rey. But you're busy right now._

Kylo closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to still himself. He found his center, felt the Force within him, let it flow through his body. Once he was calm, he opened his eyes and surveyed the enemy in front of him.

It was a sad spectacle, really. Brow-beaten, too skinny to be standing on their feet, let alone fighting soldiers of the First Order. He flicked his wrist toward one that looked the eldest, and the kid slumped to the ground. Two troopers pulled him up heavily as Kylo approached.

"Where are the rest of you?" Kylo asked. His question was met with silence. "You surely didn't think that a mere 14 of you - children - would stand against the First Order? Where are your comrades?"

The boy spit in Kylo's general direction. Kylo stared down at him, nonplussed.

"Unhelpful," Kylo said. He stepped forward and grasped the front of the boy's shirt, pulling him close and raising him slightly off his feet. The boy's hands gripped Kylo's wrist, fingers digging in. Kylo ignored it. "Wherever they are, know that we'll find them. And it will be far worse if we have to hunt them down rather than deal with a peaceful surrender. Where are they?"

To his shock, the boy laughed mirthlessly. Kylo could see he was missing several teeth, and blood stained the rest.

"Wherever they fell," the boy answered. Kylo frowned. They had perished, then? Succumbed to malnutrition, in-fighting? "You tell me."

"Explain," Kylo said, loosening his grip and lowering the boy back to the ground. The boy didn't release his wrist though, and Kylo thought maybe the boy was using him as support so he didn't fall.

"Explain what? You want me to re-enact how your soldiers came through here weeks ago and slaughtered several hundred of us?" The boy screamed. "Or how we've been dropping like weedles from the cold?" The boy leaned forward into Kylo's space. He instinctively leaned back. "Or would you like to hear of the things we had to do to eat? I can tell you exactly where _some_ of my comrades are," the boy whispered.

Kylo recoiled, wrenching the boy's hands from his wrist. He felt sick. It was with the strongest will that he didn't void his stomach right there. After a few moments of shocked silence, the troopers looking from one another, then back to Kylo, that he found himself in command again.

"Bring them aboard. We're leaving," he said, and turned sharply back to his transport.

He gave orders to drop them off at a sanctuary on Attera Alpha. A neutral organization, one that had never supported the New Republic nor the First Order, it had been allowed to continue its operations. That primarily consisted of sheltering the displaced and individuals unfit for service in the ranks of the First Order. With a hefty transfer of additional funds to cover the expenses, he left the pitiful remnants of the First Order's recruitment program in the hands of what he fervently prayed was a very capable matron.

Hours later, when he was back in his quarters aboard the _Finalizer_ that he dropped to his knees in front of the toilet and vomited. Nothing but water and acid, but he could not stop heaving.

 _Is it what you expected? Is it all you wanted and more, Ben? This - power?_

Kylo spit the last of it - he hoped - into the bowl and raised his head. It wasn't just a disembodied voice anymore. Luke stood in the doorway, arms comfortably at his sides, as he regarded Kylo with a mixture of pity and regret. The faint blue glow around him didn't seem to reflect off of anything in the room. Instead, it was tightly contained around the figure of his uncle and former master.

"You always were an asshole, Luke." Kylo muttered, wiping his mouth on a towel. "What do you want?"

"I told you, didn't I? That I'd always be with you," Luke said.

"Yeah, well I _didn't_ strike you down, did I?" Kylo bit out. He turned the tap on, filled a glass with water, and rinsed his mouth out. Luke shrugged, nodding.

"Not for lack of trying, though," he said. "You got sloppy toward the end though, kid. I thought I taught you better."

Kylo hurled the glass at him. Predictably, it went straight through to shatter against the wall on the opposite side of the room. And Luke was gone again. Kylo gripped the edge of the sink, watched numbly as a sanitation droid rolled in to clean up the glass shards. He felt as though he was on the edge of - something. Whether that was falling off or falling apart completely, Kylo didn't know. He had to keep it together. Any sign of weakness, and Hux would likely try to murder him in his sleep, if the little man wasn't already plotting that exactly. Kylo hadn't endured years of pain, no thought to himself, no indulgence, to let it all crumble because his uncle's ghost wouldn't leave him alone. He snorted. Yeah, because Luke's taunting was what made him sick. He closed his eyes.

Why had he never seen these effects of the war before? Kylo had seen endless battles, fought at the center of them. So much blood was on his hands. And that thought in itself was best saved for another time. When he was more...stable. But how had the atrocities such as what occurred on Athulla escape his notice? Had he not cared? Kylo realized the moment the thought crossed his mind why he had been blind to such things. Groomed at infancy for one thing only by a chewed-up, rotting, sentient arch grub. To be a vessel for power. Nothing else mattered. Not even his own mental autonomy. Not even his own life. Certainly not the lives of others. One in particular. That day on the bridge -

Kylo shut that thought down before it had a chance to form. It wasn't something he could think about right now.

Kylo removed his gloves and splashed water on his face. The icy shock of it helped clear his head. He pulled his gloves back on, just as the air began to shift around him. He looked around, expecting her to be standing behind him, maybe sitting in the middle of the floor again. Instead, he saw a brief glimpse of her back, hair flying behind her. She was running.

* * *

When Leia had asked Rey to be the face of the Resistance, she hadn't thought that meant literally. Now, as she stood back to back with Finn, clean and with the clothes she wore to Ahch-to, Rey wondered - not for the first time - what she'd gotten herself into. For his part, Finn was working it completely. Rey admired the resolute determination on his face, realizing it was real and not put on for the camera. She tried to emulate it, feeling that she'd failed, but pretending anyway.

Leia's plan was to spread word across the galaxy - or at least the Outer Rim - of Luke's protege and powerful Jedi Rey, as well as the heartwarming and inspiring story of Finn, the man who defected from the evil First Order and bravely fought with the Resistance. Hope springs eternal, and all that, Rey supposed. Vober had rigged the cam and - for want of a better word - _produced_ the entire thing, while Leia directed. Pamich hacked into the holodrama channels, ready to upload the story, fraught with danger, intrigue, hope, and maybe even a little romance. Once it was finished, Rey sagged against Finn. He slung his arm around her, pulling her close for a tight hug.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Finn asked her. "True but not. Real but nowhere near what actually happened."

"Would you be inspired by us, Finn?" Rey asked him, her mouth quirking. Finn leveled her with a serious gaze, his hand squeezing her shoulder.

"I already am, Rey," he said. "And it has nothing to do with you lifting rocks, or finding Luke, or killing Snoke." That last one still made Rey cringe a bit. "Ok, actually it might have a little bit to do with those things, but mostly," Finn stopped. "You and Poe are my first friends." He looked her in the eyes. "The first people to care about me and trust me. And you're good people. And you thought I could be good, too."

Rey pulled him into a proper hug. He was her first friend, too. In a lifetime of thinking a friend was a wandering skittermouse that returned for food each night, or the doll she'd crafted out of scraps and rags, Rey was still trying to learn the subtleties of companionship. She knew Finn was, too. And she was grateful. For him, for Leia, for Rose, for Poe, for Chewie, and all the others who welcomed her into their ranks - even if they were a little afraid of her.

The ceiling began to shake, dust falling onto their heads. Rey and Finn broke apart, staring upwards, then at Leia. The heavy sound of freighter engines rattled above them.

"The First Order," Rey whispered. She looked at Leia.

"They found us."

Rey and Finn took off running in the direction of the weapons room, racing alongside several others. Rey flicked the safety off on her blaster, diverting into the training room where she left her staff. She had only a moment to register the shift that signaled the bond opening between her and Kylo before he stood in front of her. He looked, well, he looked terrible. But she didn't have time for him. She'd either die or see him soon anyway, maybe both. She said as much.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, eyes darting around her, straining and failing to see her surroundings. "What's going on?"

"Don't lie to me now, Kylo," Rey said. She didn't see the small frown at the use of that name. She checked the battery power on her blaster, holstering it on her thigh. "You're the one who put a price on my head, and now you've found us." She tugged the staff over her shoulder, and skipped to leave. Kylo reached out and gripped her arm, pulling her to a stop.

"Let go of me!" Rey said, wrenching out of his grasp. His head was cocked, like he was listening.

"Low timbre, 2 second delay on the uplift. Whoever's there, it's not us," he said. "Freighter, Imperial. Scavenged, more than likely." Rey stared at him, impressed despite the mounting urgency. And then realization hit her.

"Smugglers," they both said in unison. He let her go, and she took off down the hallway. The others had locked down the hangar entrance and had their blasters at the ready. Chewie cocked his bowcaster, and Rey held her own blaster in front of her, waiting for the onslaught. Kylo had been right. The re-purposed Imperial freighter landed in the sand, and about 20 fully armed men rushed out of it, firing as soon as their boots hit the sand. Rey and her comrades wasted no time returning the favor. Blaster fire colored the night air, as the Resistance members fired relentlessly upon the smugglers. They were gaining ground, however. Soon they were upon them, blasters temporarily discarded for short, blunt weapons they wielded with deadly skill and speed. Rey whipped her staff around, beating down two, and taking another one's feet out from under him. Around her, she made sure her friends were holding up. No casualties so far. And then she saw a blaster shot catch Poe in the leg. He went down.

"No!" Rey screamed, reaching her arm out. The smuggler who was seconds from firing point blank into Poe's head froze. Without thinking, Rey swept her arm through the air, lifting the remaining enemies off their feet, and flinging them across the desert floor. Silence ensued, as everyone stopped and stared at her. She swallowed hard, scarcely able to believe what she'd done or how she did it. It was one thing to lift inanimate objects, and another entirely to throw multiple human beings several hundred feet through the air. Finn broke the moment, running toward Poe and dropping to his knees.

"Poe! Poe, you're hit!"

Poe sat up, aided by Finn's arms around him.

"Just grazed my leg. I think," Poe grunted. "I'm fine." He didn't take his eyes off Rey, though. Rose moved quickly toward the freighter, still holding her blaster defensively.

"We have to check the ship. It could have a tracking device on it," she said. Connix and three others followed her a job, weapons raised. They entered the ship gingerly, anticipating an attack.

D'acy moved efficiently from one smuggler to the next that lay motionless on the ground, firing her blaster at each one. Rey turned her head, unable to look.

"We need to find the others, make sure they're dead," the woman said tonelessly. Two other members set off in the direction Rey had thrown the men.

Leia holstered her own blaster.

"Let's get inside. Finn, help Poe in. We need to look at that wound," she said. They all began to retreat inside the bunker, but stopped when Connix came running out of the freighter.

"We have a problem. A big one," she said. Rey closed her eyes, expecting the worst. The ship held a tracker. Their location was now being broadcast across the galaxy. They weren't actually smugglers, but bounty hunters and had alerted the First Order to their whereabouts. The ship carried a bomb, and they were all going to be dead in minutes. What actually happened next could not have shocked Rey - or the rest of the crew - any more. Rose emerged from the freighter, a small child in her arms, followed by maybe 30 more small children. A sea of small humans, twi'leks, tholothians, and mirialans timidly followed Rose down the gangway.

Sentient cargo. They were hauling sentient cargo. Rey released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"The good news is that I disabled the tracker," Rose said. "It hadn't transmitted any information, either. We're safe. For now."

Leia stepped forward, her face grim in light of their discovery.

"I want the ship log. Where were they headed? Where did they come from? And why did they decide to make a pit stop here?" Leia asked no one in particular. Rose handed the twi'lek child she held to Rey. Rey awkwardly grasped the small body, having never held another being in her life that wasn't a game animal, let alone one barely out of infancy. She felt tears sting her eyes, and the tightness in her chest threatened to smother her. Slavers. They could only have been slavers. Why else traffic in sentients?

"I'll go find out," Rose said, walking briskly back to the ship. The children stood around, some crying, some too terrified to make a noise. Leia knelt to one of them, a small human child with dark hair and dark eyes. Rey closed her eyes tight against the pain of Leia's thoughts. She couldn't read Leia's mind, but she didn't have to. That child bore a basic resemblance to Leia's son, Ben. To Kylo Ren. Leia lifted the little boy easily.

"Let's get back inside. We need to bury the bodies. They'll attract animals," Leia said. "We'll raid the ship for supplies in the morning." She disappeared into the bunker, the other Resistance members gently herding the children inside behind her. Rey stood still with the child in her arms. She looked out across the desert, up into the sky full of stars and the two moons of Florrum. The twi'lek girl in her arms regarded her cautiously before leaning her head against Rey's shoulder. Rey waited until Rose emerged from the freighter, the log box in her hand. Even in the dark, Rey could see the wetness on the woman's face.

Wordlessly, she turned and followed Rose back inside. Behind them, Rey could hear the scrape of the ground being torn up for graves.

* * *

Hux stood in the hangar of the _Absolution,_ watching the arrival of the knight's transport ship with eager satisfaction. It landed, and Seyla marched ahead of an older woman. The engineer's blonde hair was fading into gray, and the lines on her face made her look older than Hux knew she was. Three stormtroopers retrieved various crates and bags from the ship behind the women.

"Well done, knight," Hux said. "Make yourself at home. Rest a spell. Your rooms have been prepared." He didn't look at Seyla, eyes only for the woman she successfully delivered.

Seyla Ren glanced behind her as she made her way across the massive hangar. The growing unease she'd felt since bringing the engineer aboard her ship had turned into full-on foreboding. She didn't trust Hux as far as she could throw him. And by extension, that meant anyone who went willingly into partnership with him. She thought it might be high time she contacted her master. Not for the first time, she wondered how involved Kylo was, given his new position in the Order.

Hux glanced at the cargo being unloaded and couldn't suppress the smile that grew.

"Welcome Dr. Lekk Masra. Welcome to the First Order."

* * *

 **A/N:** First of all, huge thanks to everyone who has read and set it to an alert and favorite. You are awesome!

I really like writing Kylo, just saying. I've been listening to Breaking Benjamin and Muse ad nauseam to get me in (what I think is) his head space. Rey is admittedly a little more difficult for me. I couldn't get a good read on her in either of the films so far. I generally think she was portrayed as being almost too serious, so I tried to give her some humor in this fic. Drop me a line and tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The Resistance crew gathered every blanket they had, with Chewie pulling extras off the Falcon, to bundle the children in. It didn't appear as though they'd been injured.

"Just scared and hungry," Rose said. The little Twi'lek girl, whose name Rey finally learned was Aya, had been reluctant to let go of Rey, even once everyone began to get settled. Then she saw Chewie, and Rey figured it was all downhill from there. Aya had never seen a Wookie before, apparently, and was completely enthralled by his fur and size. After a brief moment where Rey thought the girl might scream and run away, Aya leaped into Chewie's arms, a wide smile on her face, blue fingers curling around Chewie's fur. Rey couldn't help the laugh that escaped her at Chewie's stunned grumble and awkward shift of the child in his arms.

The crew pulled out their formerly sufficient supply of packaged rations to feed the malnourished kids.

"Let's see the flight plan, Rose," Leia said. They hooked the log up to the computer and sifted through the information. Poe read through the information, muttering curses before Leia batted at his arm, casting a glance at the kids in the room. He rolled away and stood up, running his hands through his hair. Rey tried to lean over Finn and Leia, to see what had Poe so upset.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Rey exclaimed. Leia didn't shush her, her own eyes covered with her hand as she took in the implications of the captain's log. The smugglers were taking the children to the First Order.

"I thought Project Resurrection got shut down?" Poe asked. He sounded desperate, as though there was possibly some benign reason why smugglers would be taking thirty children of many different species to the First Order. Finn shook his head.

"Only superficially," Finn said. "The headquarters in the Jinata System were were closed, but they were still bringing in recruits from somewhere. By the time I hit Jakku, there were hundreds more brought in from all over the Western Reaches." He frowned, tapping his fingers to his mouth. "But they were only human children, babies, actually. Not more than infants. These kids are almost too old to be entered into the training program." Finn's voice was clinical, as though he only stated facts and not the painful history of his own life.

Poe stopped his pacing to stare at Finn, mouth pinched in distaste and sadness. Rey wished Finn would look up and see it. She reached out and squeezed his hand. Anger, white hot, burned in her veins. She spun around and fled out of the hangar, down the hallways, finding the training room as she left it, with the exception of the tall, dark figure who'd been with her before.

"Kylo!" Rey shouted. "Kylo Ren!" Nothing. She felt stupid, spinning around, surveying the empty room. Stilling herself, she tried to open her mind to the Force, searching for the torrent of emotions that was the Supreme Leader himself. There. She flung the connection wide open, and received a barrage of hatred and fury, the likes of which she'd never felt before. Her own anger paled in comparison. And then he was gone, the connection closed off before it was even fully formed. How had he done that? Rey tried to open it up again, but it was like running and hitting a durasteel wall. Mentally, she pounded her fists, aware that tears were now running down her face. _How could he?_ Rey sat down heavily on the floor, realizing with shock that the anger came from a sense of betrayal. But you couldn't betray an enemy. Alone on the dirt floor, Rey wondered if she'd ever stop hurting herself with the most impossible of hopes.

* * *

General Hux slid across the black tiled floor, his back slamming into the wall. He winced in pain, but before he could drag himself to his knees, Ren's hand was around his throat, physically pulling him up. Maker, but the man was strong, even without the magic he wielded so casually.

Hux hadn't welcomed the arrival of Ren aboard the _Absolution_ , and now he wished he'd just jettisoned the bastard's transport and dealt with the subsequent tribunal, as he'd had half a mind to at the time.

"They were _eating_ each other, Hux!" Ren growled. His fist tightened, and Hux dug his nails into Ren's wrist. With a final squeeze that Hux was sure had torn skin, Ren dropped him. Hux choked, gasping for air. He held up a hand, as though that would keep Ren from killing him. Still, Hux was fairly certain this was just another temper tantrum, and he'd come out of it bruised and humiliated, but what was new?

"Supreme Leader," Hux croaked. Ren walked away from him, hands clenching and unclenching. He hadn't worn his gloves, and Hux had a momentary fear that he actually had come very close to death. Might still.

"Why didn't you just have them all killed?" Ren asked. "Or transport them to the training facility on Caeth?"

Hux stood up slowly, hands rubbing his throat. They came away with smears of blood.

"They were insurgents, Ren," Hux decided to dispense with the fake obeisance. It wouldn't serve either of them at the moment. "What did you expect, a truce and counseling sessions to restore mutual trust?" Ren rounded on him, stalking toward him again. "If you try to kill me again, I will expose you for the traitor and murderer that you are," Hux said, throwing caution to the wind. Ren stopped, his face dropping. Hux snorted. "Did you really think I'd believe a little scavenger girl would best you, the praetorian guard, _and_ the late Supreme Leader Snoke? At the same time?"

"If I kill you now, nearly all of my problems will be solved," Ren said, advancing again. Hux smiled slowly.

"It pains me that you think I'm stupid, Ren. After all we've accomplished together." Hux straightened the collar on his coat. He would have another one made, this one was torn. Bastard. "If I don't code in on my personal channel every day, the revelation of your treason will be broadcast to the entire First Order fleet."

"I could easily take the code from your mind, Hux. You've seen me do it before."

"Which is why I don't actually know the code. It's scrambled daily and is generated by a droid that isn't even on this ship," Hux said. He felt very brave now, confident that Ren wouldn't - couldn't - kill him. At least not right now. He stepped toward Ren, stopping only a foot away. "Don't get me wrong. Maker knows I have nothing against murdering one's way to the top and lying about it. So, no judgment on that." Hux took a particular delight in the hatred twisting Ren's mouth. "But I loathe you, Ren. It's personal, you see? But I also feel that together, we can bring back the glory of the First Order. The galaxy needs a figurehead, and the Jedi Killer is a good one." Hux looked him up and down, taking in the scar across the man's face with disgust. "If you could be bothered to maintain the reputation." Hux walked past Ren to the door. "Please feel free to destroy anything in this room. It's easily replaced." Hux threw over his shoulder, before disappearing through the door.

Outside his quarters, Hux was met by Lieutenant Mitaka.

"Lieutenant, how goes the preparations? Has the doctor received everything she's asked for?" Hux asked, storming down the hallway. Mitaka followed, hesitating only briefly.

"Yes, sir. Dr. Lekk Masra has informed me the construction should be complete in a matter of days. She has asked to speak to you regarding a trial run."

"Sounds delightful. I know the perfect candidate to test the weapon's capabilities."

* * *

For the next two days, Kylo haunted the _Absolution_ like a spectre. He despised this ship, to be honest, but he hated and trusted Hux even less. For his part, the general didn't seem put off by Kylo's continued presence, even going so far as to delegate extravagant personal quarters for the Supreme Leader. An extravagance that was complete with exotic meals delivered to him by a perfunctory droid. The bowl of rasta berries, bread, and hatha cheese remained untouched on the small table beside the bed.

"You should have killed him when you had the chance," Luke said. He sat cross legged on the floor, mirroring Kylo's position. Kylo always found meditation to be relaxing, a key tool to focus his mind and energies. This was not one of those times. He didn't open his eyes, instead inhaling deeply and mentally bearing down on the obstacle that sat across from him. "You know that little trick doesn't work on a ghost, right?" Luke said helpfully.

"Kill him, like you should have killed me when you had the chance, years ago?" Kylo asked bitterly. Luke sighed, a sound full of long-suffering. Kylo gritted his teeth.

"And there aren't enough apologies in the universe for that moment, Ben," Luke said. Kylo snorted.

"You're just sorry you didn't follow through."

Luke stood up and walked to the window. Kylo peeked one eye open, curiosity coloring his anger. Luke's figure cast no reflection in the glass.

"I knew I had failed you the moment the thought crossed my mind." Luke spoke as though from a great distance. "I just never realized exactly how, until Rey called me out."

Now Kylo opened both eyes, giving his uncle his full attention.

"Rey?"

Luke nodded.

"She's wicked with a bo-staff, let me tell you!" Luke chuckled ruefully. "I think when she constructs her own saber, it should be double ended. She'll be much more efficient and comfortable with it."

Kylo swallowed thickly. Against his better judgment, the question came out.

"What did she say? To you?" _About me?_ Kylo didn't finish, letting the question hang in the air.

"After giving me a well-deserved beating, she told me my mistake was assuming your choice had been made already." Luke turned to face his nephew again. "She was only half-correct. I should have seen the conflict in you for what it was. I should have supported you. That's what I'm sorry for, Ben."

Kylo stared at his hands, willing them to remain still. When he looked up at his uncle again, he tried to project resolve and confidence.

"My choice was, is made." Kylo stood up in one graceful motion. "I've worked too hard for anything else. And I won't kill Hux yet because it'll ruin me, ruin everything I've built."

"You don't need any help with that, kid!" Luke said. "You've been on that path for a while now."

Kylo whipped around.

"Get out!" he shouted. Luke didn't move.

"Your grandfather would say the same, were he able to," Luke said.

"He wouldn't, and hasn't," Kylo spat. He ignored the niggling fear that his visions of his grandfather had been fabricated by Snoke. "He's visited me, you know?" Kylo challenged Luke.

Luke laughed a little.

"Oh, I doubt that. My father, Anakin, passed on long ago, before you were born. I watched him." Luke's eyes took on an almost dreamy, serene light. "He walked into the light of the beyond, hand in hand with my mother, your grandmother, Padme."

Kylo couldn't say why he believed his uncle, except that it only added proof to his suspicions; everything Snoke had told him was a lie, even the words that didn't come from Snoke's mouth.

"A fool who fell from power for _compassion_ ," Kylo ground out. It wasn't as harsh and angry as he meant for it to sound. To his own horror and humiliation, his own voice sounded almost _wistful?_

"Anakin was made stronger in Padme's love!" Luke retorted. "His mistake was forsaking that love, forsaking _her_ for power! It was his downfall, and the galaxy's."

Kylo tried desperately to hang onto the fury and hatred he'd been instilled with.

"So she died for him, he died for you, and you - what did you die for, Luke?" Kylo demanded. "An idea? A movement you refused to be a part of until it was too late? Old crimes, Luke. You were always the more passive type." Kylo turned around, meaning to leave the ghost, even if Luke wouldn't leave him. To his shock, Luke's arm snaked out and gripped his own.

"I did it for _you!_ " Luke shouted. Kylo went very still, his breath held in his throat. Luke released his arm and ran a hand through his hair. In the back of his mind, Kylo recognized the gesture as one Han Solo performed many times, one he himself was guilty of. A family trait, apparently. His chest tightened.

"I told myself it was for Leia. And then for the ideology, as you say. Even for Rey, as an apology for abandoning her hopes. But it was for you. Ben," Luke said, imploring.

"Why?" Kylo asked when he could speak again.

"You had so much blood on your hands, Ben. I couldn't let you wash in more of it, until there was nothing left that could be forgiven, no one left to forgive you. That was my apology," Luke said. "You're not required to accept it. It was given freely. But that is what happened, and I don't regret it."

Luke clasped his hands in front of him. He looked more at peace then Kylo could ever remember seeing him. Then he tilted his head to the side, and a mischievous light came into his eyes.

"Be nice to her. She challenged - and bested! - a Jedi legend for you," Luke said.

Kylo didn't have a chance to respond, even if he could, because Luke faded, the blue glow around him lingering for a moment afterward.

Rey sat cross legged in the spot Luke had just vacated. Kylo felt his stomach drop and a dryness coat his throat when he realized she wasn't alone. A small twi'lek child sat in her lap, the two of them putting together what Kylo thought might be - generously - called a doll. The knot in his stomach grew, but he refused to name the emotion. He ran his fingers through his hair, electing irritation for the moment.

"Am I to be visited by every Force user, past and present, today?" Kylo demanded of nobody in particular.

Rey stiffened, but didn't look up. Very carefully, she tied the remaining knot in the thread that held the doll's head together and handed it to Aya with a forced smile.

"I think it's about time for bed, yeah?" she asked the girl. Aya lifted her head and looked around the room, a small frown furrowing between her brows.

"It feels different in here," the child said. Rey opened her mouth in surprise. The child seemed to look straight at Kylo, but through him. "You have something to do. I'll go to bed," Aya decided. She stood up, taking her new doll - completely different from the one she'd had at home, but still nice - and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The training room, as Rey called it, smelled funny anyway, and Aya wasn't sure she liked the sudden change in the air around her.

Once she was gone, Rey stood up, facing Kylo.

"She looks a little like you, anything you want to tell me?" Kylo joked, trying to provoke Rey and break the tension at the same time. It didn't have the desired effect, at least not on Kylo, as the thought of Rey having a child with - with _anyone_ \- made the blood drain from his face. It didn't have the desired effect on Rey, either, apparently. He watched with interest as her fists clenched at her sides, and he just knew she was mentally cataloging every weapon that was within reach.

"You manipulative bastard!" Rey hissed. Kylo recoiled. That was unexpected.

"And how's that?" Kylo demanded.

"You made me believe - I thought -" Rey shook her head, her face screwing up in disgust. Kylo stayed silent, searching her face for answers. "And this whole time, you've been kidnapping children - _children! -_ to expand First Order ranks!"

Kylo was stunned. And confused. How could she possibly know what transpired with J-Sec, and have misinterpreted the information so thoroughly?

"What are you talking about?" he asked. Rey laughed mirthlessly.

"Well, once again, I beat you to the punch. Your latest batch of _recruits_ are here, with us. And the First Order will never get them!"

Kylo felt like he was watching a holovid with only half the dialogue. He was missing something huge, something vital. He tried again.

"I had nothing to do with Project Resurrection, and it was shut down years ago, besides," Kylo hedged.

"Yeah, formally, in Jinata. Now you employ smugglers to abduct children from their homes." Rey shook her head in disgust. That was enough of that. Kylo stepped forward; Rey stepped back.

"I don't know what you think I've done, but if you're going to throw out accusations, at least make them coherent," Kylo said lowly. Rey blinked, her mouth opening and closing. Her confusion was fleeting, though, and her eyes turned to steel.

"A band of smugglers landed here, open-fire. We won, and reclaimed their cargo. They were hauling thirty children, all under six years old, on a flight path back to a First Order base on Vodran," Rey said, speaking slowly.

Kylo took a moment to process what she'd said. It was impossible. Not that the First Order would abduct children for recruitment tactics, that was fact.

"Vodran doesn't have a training facility," Kylo said, more to himself than to Rey. "It has, literally, nothing. Just swamp and weapons storage." He felt no alarm at having revealed such details of a First Order base. Even if Rey had still only been an enemy, it wasn't as though the Resistance was equipped to launch an attack against a mostly unoccupied planet.

"You're saying the First Order isn't responsible for this?" Rey asked, incredulous.

"I'm telling you _I'm_ not responsible for this," Kylo said. Rey frowned.

"You're the Supreme Leader of the First Order," Rey said. Kylo turned away from her. "They follow your orders!"

"You have a very childish opinion on how politics work!" Kylo said.

"Snoke ruled the Order with an iron fist. Don't pretend you haven't taken up his mantle," Rey said. She may as well have run him through with a lightsaber and followed it up with salt.

"There are many things that went unnoticed by Snoke, as I'm sure you'll recall," Kylo said softly. He moved toward her again, but she didn't step back or give any ground. "If every one of Snoke's orders had been followed, you'd all be dead. _You_ would be dead."

Rey lowered her gaze to stare at her feet. Kylo dipped his head to try and meet her eyes again. He could feel the tension in the room, between them. The push and pull. It was like a string tied so tight that one touch would cause it to snap. It startled both of them all the more when the silence was broken by the low grumble of Rey's stomach.

Rey's head whipped up, her face bright red. Kylo's brows shot up.

"Really?" he said, amused. An idea, just a small revenge, formed in his mind, and he walked casually over to the table where the fresh fruit, bread, and cheese still lay in the bowl. His hand hovering over the fruit, he picked one and popped it in his mouth. Only after chewing and swallowing did he think to pray that Hux hadn't poisoned him. It would be incredibly humiliating to die in such a way in front of Rey when he was trying to make a point. He looked at her to make sure she was watching him. She was.

"You know, if you had accepted my offer aboard the _Supremacy_ , you could have had anything and everything." Kylo tore off a piece of bread, chewed it slowly, as though considering. Rey watched the movement. "You wouldn't be hungry. You wouldn't be holed up in some backwater hovel with a small group of people who are probably more afraid of you than they are your friends." Another berry.

"Ah yes, the perks of being a despot," Rey spat. "I'd rather starve!"

It took effort for Kylo not to squeeze the handful of berries he'd picked out into a mushy pulp. Instead, he held them gingerly in his hand, walking back toward Rey. He extended them to her. Suddenly, the idea of her eating from the palm of his hand was the only image in his brain. He felt his blood burn and rush south before he had control over himself.

"Are you sure?" Kylo asked, holding out one large piece of fruit toward her. He saw her jaw twitch before she walked around him. He popped the handful in his mouth, and considered if he really wanted to know the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Why did you come to me, if not to be - to stand with me?"

Rey had sat down on something wherever she was, but to him it looked like she was sitting on the bed. At this moment, it wasn't as alluring as he'd expected. She slumped forward, arms propped on her knees, hands clasped.

"I would have. I was ready to. I thought you would - I thought I could -" She didn't finish the thought. Kylo did it for her.

"You thought you could turn me. You were ready to stand by me, if I gave up everything and joined the Resistance," Kylo stated, flatly. Rey jumped to her feet.

"Yes! I told you I would! I told you I would help you!" Rey hugged her arms to herself. "And when you killed Snoke, when we fought _together,_ I believed in you," she finished quietly.

"You rejected me. You never believed in me," Kylo said. "You only believed in yourself, that you had the power to change who I am, to change _me_!" It was out now. There wasn't any going back, Kylo knew that now. Rey didn't. Her face transformed into fury, and she actually poked him in the chest.

"How dare you!" she shouted. "You're right, I believed I could turn your mind from darkness, but I didn't fly myself to the largest First Order ship with the delusion that I could take on the entire fleet by myself!" She shoved another finger into his chest."I knew I was in danger. I knew Snoke was waiting for me! I knew I could be imprisoned and executed! But I did it anyway! Because I _trusted you!"_ Rey flung her arm out to side, smacking into the bowl and sending its contents to the floor.

They both froze, staring at the object. Neither had been able to interact in the other's environment before. Objects would appear only when one of them picked it up. Kylo had seen the child Aya when she sat in Rey's arms, the girl appearing to have vanished into thin air once the physical contact was broken. How was this possible?

Rey turned panicked eyes to Kylo, and the connection was abruptly severed. He cursed, and kicked the foot of the bed.

"Rey? Rey!"

The connection remained silent, and he was alone again.

* * *

 **A/N** : Back with another chapter. The once a week updates are more than likely how the rest of the story will continue.

Thank you all for reading. Special thanks to those who have followed and reviewed this story. Seriously, thank you so much! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll catch up with you next week.


	7. Chapter 7: Part 1

A/N: Apologies for two things: The ridiculous amount of time since the last update, and...midichlorians. I'm sorry. Truly. But...give it a shot anyway?

Chapter Seven: Part I

Hux read the report, a growing frown deepening between his brows. He should have known not to trust the sleazy, marauding smugglers. They couldn't even handle the simple task of hauling children.

"Where did they last disembark?" Hux asked.

"Their ship was last tracked to the Florrum System, though the tracker was shut off or destroyed before it's next cycle began," Mitaka answered. "We have no way of knowing which planet they would have landed on."

Hux handed the report back to Mitaka and stared out the bay window. It was just a small loss, really. It was easy enough to find the children through the medibase. It would be easy to find them again, he was sure. And some thirty-odd sensitives were nothing in the thousands that existed in the galaxy. Still.

"Has the other shipment arrived yet?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. It arrived thirty minutes ago. They are unloading now, and payment should be ready for them within the hour."

Hux nodded.

"Bring me Dr. Lekk Masra."

* * *

Rey leaned over the lightsaber, her fingers deftly twisting the frayed wires into new thread. The insulator cover would be a new challenge, but first she had to fix the emitter channels. When she sliced the edge of her finger on the broken encasement, Rey had to stifle an instinctive profanity. She had an audience, after all.

Aya sat cross legged on the other side of the room, her new doll placed to sit daintily in her lap. The two watched in quiet fascination as Rey sucked the blood of the end of her finger. Rey flashed them both a quick, awkward smile. She wasn't used to children. There were only a couple of kids her own age on Jakku, and the competition for resources was fierce.

"Why do you need one of those anyway?" Aya asked. Rey looked up in surprise.

"How do you know what this is, Aya?" Rey asked her. The girl snorted.

"I'm not a peasant, you know."

Rey hid her smile by looking down at the tool in her hands again.

"I liked watching the holovids. The ones where the Jedis fought the droids with the light swords," Aya said, pointing at the saber.

"Really? I've never seen those vids," Rey said.

"Yeah, me and my brother watched them sometimes. The village had big shows they put on every month or so. Where everyone could go and watch."

Rey smiled at her. It sounded lovely. She couldn't even imagine a community that cared for its people like that. Jakku had been the opposite. Sharing was not in anyone's vocabulary there.

"You have a brother?" Rey asked her, hoping with everything in her heart that he was still alive. Aya nodded.

"Yeah. His name is Tiyo. He's older than me, but he's nice." Aya's gaze was focused in her lap, and she fidgeted with the doll's thread. "Do you have a brother? Or a sister?"

Rey's hands stilled, and the familiar pain bloomed in her chest. She of course had no idea if she had a sibling. Maybe there was someone out there who shared her blood. Would she have grown up, watching old Jedi holovids with him? Would they have fought, shared toys, meals, learned together? _Your parents were filthy junk traders, who sold you off for drinking money. They're dead, in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert._

"No, I don't," she answered. Silence ensued for the next few minutes. Rey twisted the ends of the wire together, and carefully slid them into a new insulator she cannibalized from a broken blaster. She picked up her solder and fitted a tiny tip to it, hoping it was small enough to fit into the inner workings of the lightsaber.

"Are you a Jedi?" Aya asked. Rey switched the soldering gun on and set it aside to warm up. That was a question, wasn't it?

"No. At least, I don't think so. Not yet," Rey didn't have a good answer, she realized. And Aya clearly wasn't impressed with her inability to decide. The little girl gave her a quizzical look, then shrugged.

"Well, even if you are, you don't need that light sword. You're good enough with that." Aya pointed to Rey's bo-staff. "And a blaster. You're good with one of those, too." Rey sat up, frowning in confusion.

"Yes, I am, but how do you know that?"

Aya shrugged.

"I saw you fight with the men who took us."

"But you were in the cargo hold, Aya," Rey said, her attention completely focused on the girl now. "How did you see me?" Another shrug.

"I just did. In here." Aya tapped her head. Rey held her breath for a moment, considering her next question.

"Aya, when we were making - Mya, is it? - when were making Mya, and you said the air seemed different, what did you mean?" Another shrug.

"I dunno."

Rey shuffled closer to the girl, but kept a respectful distance. She recognized the wariness in the child's stiff, hunched posture.

"Aya, there's nothing to be afraid of, with me, here." The girl looked up at her then, seeming to see through her. With a little sigh, Aya seemed to melt into herself, as her muscles relaxed. She still picked at the loose threads in Mya.

"We were alone, then we weren't. I couldn't see anyone else, but they were there." Then her eyes perked up in excitement. "Was it a ghost? Can you talk to ghosts?"

Rey released the breath she'd been holding. The girl was Force-sensitive. That was the only explanation. She'd somehow sensed the connection with Ben - with Kylo. A new, darker thought occurred to her.

"Aya, are the other kids here like you? Can they see things in their heads, or feel a presence like you do?"

"Some of them can. Some of them can do other things. One of them - I'm not telling who! - can make things move! It's so cool!"

Rey nodded, her eyes closed. The First Order was kidnapping Force-sensitive children. For what purpose, she had no idea. And she suspected Ben hadn't lied to her. _Had he ever?_ the nasty voice in her head asked. He had no idea what was happening.

"Gods, he's a terrible Supreme Leader," Rey muttered. "Listen, Aya. I'm not going to tell anyone here about your sight, ok? But can you do the same for me?" Aya frowned, tilting her head.

"Is your ghost-talk a secret, too?" Aya asked.

"Yes. And he's not a ghost. Can you keep my secret, and I'll keep yours?"

Aya considered this for a moment. She turned Mya around and appeared to have a quiet conversation with the doll.

"Yeah, ok. I won't tell anyone."

Rey extended her hand, and the two shook on it.

"I'm hungry, Rey."

Dismay filled Rey, but she smiled anyway. Everyone was hungry. The rations that were supposed to last the fleet several weeks were dwindling fast with the arrival of 30 new, small mouths. She remembered the food Ben had sort of offered her, the bright red berries. Her face heated a little at the image in her head. Shaking it off, she stood and brushed her clothes off.

"Me, too. Let's go find something, yeah?"

Aya stood up and rubbed her stomach, groaning dramatically.

"I wish we had some mushrooms! Mommy showed me how to pick them. But I don't think they grow in the desert."

"What's a mushroom?"

* * *

"It would be advantageous if you were here, too, Kylo."

Kylo shook his head, aware that Tarak Ren couldn't see him. He didn't want to communicate over the regular channels.

"It's a small rebellion. You and Aran can deal with it. There are things here I need to take care of." He didn't mention Hux. Over the years, as Kylo had grown _closer_ \- just the thought made his skin crawl - to Snoke, he'd grown just as far apart from the other knights. They'd never been loyal to Snoke anyway, preferring to follow orders into battle. He signed off, tucking his communicator back into his belt.

What he'd said to Rey wasn't strictly speaking true. As Supreme Leader, he should know the goings on of everything in his command. The truth was, his command was increasingly questionable. Was he really just a figure-head now, a symbol of the First Order's power? Kylo clenched his fist. This wasn't going the way he thought it would.

"Are you the only one who changed your name?" Luke asked. Kylo closed his eyes. He would be driven mad before Hux had a chance to kill him. "How are my old students?"

"Here I thought I'd have some peace once Snoke was dead," Kylo said. "In answer to your question, they are alive. Beyond that, I don't know."

"You may be just as conflicted as you were before, maybe more so, but I think you have found a bit of peace. Am I wrong?" Luke asked. Kylo looked up at his uncle. Luke sat on the edge of his desk, hands clasped easily in his lap.

"Are you really here, or am I going mad?"

Luke laughed and shook his head.

"You wanna have a philosophical discussion on the existence of the soul and the afterlife, its intertwining relationship with the Force? Again?"

Kylo snorted and shook his head. He remembered, vividly, their arguments on the nature of life, death, the universe, and the Force. He'd been a curious student, Kylo thought. Never satisfied with an answer.

"Well, I'm here. But your tenuous grasp on rationality doesn't have a strong precedent," Luke said. Kylo decided to ignore him, and pulled the datapad into his lap. He unclipped a scrambler mask from his belt and plugged it in. Just another reminder of his failure as Supreme Leader: he didn't have access to the Order's communication mainframe. Its transmission and transaction histories were encrypted. He didn't think a paltry scrambler would unlock it for him, but it was worth a shot. After several long, heavy minutes, Luke broke the silence. "What's bothering you, Ben?"

Kylo looked up at his uncle in shock and bitterness.

"You ask me that now, after all these years?" he asked. Luke held his hands up and began to retreat, when Kylo did something that surprised even himself. Typing in the command prompt, he set the datapad aside to, hopefully, crack the communications database. "I feel empty. Hollowed out," he began.

Luke slowly sat back down on the desk. Kylo refused to look at him.

"Not - not thoughtless, or dispassionate." Kylo struggled to explain the vacancy, the loss he felt. "If anything, I'm angrier than I ever was." He paused, searching for the words. Luke let him. "But, for the first time, in a very long time, I feel like it's _mine_." He stook up and paced around the room. He wished Rey were here, and that realization made him more restless. He didn't know if she'd experienced anything like what he felt, but her honesty would have been welcome right now. Even if she told him to fly into the nearest sun. But the only other presence in the room was his uncle. His enemy. Not really his enemy. The man was dead. And yet here they were. "I keep waiting for the voice in my head to tell me what to do. Sometimes I think I hear him, but it's just me, creating what I'm expecting to hear." Kylo gave up. He found he couldn't describe what he was feeling. He reflected that he wouldn't have needed to with Rey. And what did that mean?

"Your thoughts are finally your own. Snoke is dead, and with him, the poison he fed you." Luke supplied. Kylo snorted.

"You're trying to absolve me of what I've done. I wasn't a puppet, Luke." Kylo ran his hands roughly through his hair. "I knew what I did, and I did it. I'm responsible."

Luke did move now, standing so close to Kylo that he wanted to back away. But Luke wouldn't have it. He raised his hands to cup Kylo's face. The urge to run him through with his saber was strong, even though he knew nothing would come of it.

"Yes, you are. As am I, and Leia, and Han, and Snoke. Your actions are your own, but the guilt doesn't only belong to you." Luke let him go and stepped back. "We all are a sum of many different parts, Ben. No one and nothing exists in a vacuum. No one can go back, but sometimes we need help moving forward."

"Is that why you're here?" Kylo asked. Luke shrugged.

"Maybe?" Luke dusted off the front of his robes, a gesture that belied his calm and steady demeanor. A knock on his door, broke the tension. A droid wobbled in with a tray of food. It didn't appear to see Luke, or if it did, it didn't register as an anomaly. It completed its duty, and then rolled out.

"For me? Oh, you shouldn't have." Luke gushed in mock pleasure. "Or are you expecting a guest?"

"You can leave now," Kylo said, shutting the door. He wasn't expecting anyone. And he wasn't hungry. But it might raise suspicion if he refused service, so he'd dutifully accepted the large - and ridiculously rich - quantities of food that were pressed upon him. It had nothing to do with the possibility of Rey showing up. After all, it'd been over a week since they last connected. He recalled, with the same sense of shock and awe, how she'd been able to interact with objects in the room. Distantly, Kylo thought Luke might have been able to explain how the Force was connecting them, and why. But the thought of asking him made the bile rise in his gut.

"Hmmmm," Luke nodded, one eyebrow raised in question. "You know, desert life isn't easy. Life on Jakku was probably miserable for her. When she came to me at Ahch-to, the island caretakers made a sweet cake, with nuts and honey, for a festival. I swear to you, the girl looked like she'd died and ascended to the gods." Luke laughed. "And then, of course, she verbally whipped me down for tricking her. In my defense, it was pretty funny, though." Kylo stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"What trick? What did you do?" Kylo asked. Luke waved him off.

"Ask her about it sometime. See you later." Luke faded in a dim blue light. Kylo stared at the spot that was now vacant, half expecting, maybe even hoping, Luke's figure would be replaced with another. For several minutes he stood still, sensing no change in the air around him. Almost hatefully, he tore a piece of bread off and shoved it in his mouth before sitting down to continue his attack on the communications database.

* * *

Rose handed the documents to General Leia. It had taken the better part of a week, but she'd finally hacked the smuggler's manifest directive.

"So, their ship log indicates they were en route to a First Order planet, Vodran. However, the manifest indicates that was just a pit stop."

"That makes sense, considering Vodran is defunct, nothing but outdated storage for the Order," Rey said. All eyes turned to her in question. She swallowed thickly, realizing she'd left information slip, information she had no business having. Leia narrowed her eyes, but didn't question her.

"Well, these guys had a hit list, if you will," Rose continued. "They were provided the names and locations of all these kids. And they were getting paid for it."

Poe let out a low whistle at the number.

"That's a pretty hefty wad of cash. Where are they getting the funds?" he asked.

"Bank investments on Core worlds, hedge fund managers, politicians. There's always someone willing to sell themselves," Finn said.

"And others," Rose added quietly.

Leia tapped a finger on the documents, deep in thought.

"We're gonna need more resources, if we want to stop whatever they're planning," Poe said. Leia nodded.

"I know," Leia said. She pulled up a screen, and Rey couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her. A picture, epic in composition, of her and Finn, lit the screen. "This, along with the gripping tale of the Jedi who trained with Luke and killed the Supreme Leader, and the brave Storm Trooper who risked his life to defect and join the Resistance, is being circulated around the Outer Rim territories, as of two hours ago. More will follow. I'm giving it a few days to sink in, then we'll contact our allies and see if any sentiment has changed."

"What about the children?" Poe asked. "If the galaxy knew what the Order was doing, maybe they'd be more inclined to support us?"

"No, we're not bringing them into this," Finn said, adamant. "They are victims. We need to find their families and return them."

"It might not be that simple," Rey said softly. She bit her tongue, dreading that she was about to reveal. She'd promised Aya, but this couldn't go on.

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked. "Of course it is. Once we are able, we are taking them home."

"I can try to itemize the manifest," Rose said. "And compare it with the ships log. And some of the kids can tell us where they're from. Once we get transport, we can take them back?"

Rey shook her head.

"No, the First Order will just go after them again, I'm sure of it," Rey insisted. Finn stared at her, incredulous that she would not take his side. Now or never. "They aren't just random people - this wasn't a raiding party. They're Force sensitive."

The silence in the room stretched across the galaxy, she was sure of it. It was Poe who broke it, his voice shaking.

"Sakk told me there was an engineer, from the days of the Empire, who was constructing some kind of weapon against Force users." He stared pointedly at Leia. The general shook her head.

"I said it before, that's impossible. It's not some magic that can be turned on and off. The Force is in everything. It _is_ everything. To create a weapon against it would be an attempt to destroy the entire universe."

Rose tapped her finger on the screen.

"Let's just think about this a minute, yeah?" Rose said. She twisted her mouth in concentration. "If it's a weapon designed to destroy the Force -"

"That's not possible!" Leia interrupted.

"Then it would be pretty stupidly small to go after something so vast and powerful by hitting one person at a time, yeah?" Rose finished. "What if it's not supposed to destroy the Force? I don't even know what the Force is, except that you can move stuff, and create illusions with it!"

Poe threw his hands up.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!"

"No but imagine! The only obstacle to your goal is some powerful, magical ability. They feared the rise of a new Jedi Order. Why? Because the Jedi could successfully oppose their regime."

"They're trying to wipe out the idea of the Jedi. Destroy any hope that a resistance could exist and win," Finn said.

"How did they know these kids are senstive? How did you know?" Poe asked Rey. She shrugged, and kept her answer as vague as possible to keep Aya's trust.

"I discovered it from one of the kids. I don't know how the First Order would know."

"Medical records," Leia said. She gripped her cane tighter, searching her memory for the stories Luke had told her. "I never trained as a Jedi, you understand?" She said to no one in particular. "Luke always tried to teach me what he knew, what he learned from Yoda. I just - my heart wasn't in it. I always felt I was more grounded here. Among my peers, my - my comrades." She sat down, and gestured for the others to do the same. "Before the empire, when my mother was Queen and the Jedi were numerous, they recruited new students via blood samples."

"What were they looking for?" Rey asked. She sat forward eagerly, unable to hide her interest.

"I don't remember what he called it, but there are organisms, sentient cells, if you will, in every living being. They are not the Force, but they are like conductors, maybe?" Leia shook her head. "My father, Anakin Skywalker - formerly Darth Vader - was said to possess the highest number of them in the galaxy, since history was known."

"So, the higher the count, the more powerful a person is in the Force?" Poe asked. "And now the First Order has a database of potential Jedis? That's, well, that's just kriffing fantastic!"

"But how's that possible?" Rey asked. "It can't be a very thorough database, can it? I've never had blood drawn outside of battle, and there is certainly no record of my birth. I'd know if there was." She felt the weight of Finn's hand on her shoulder and accepted it for what it was.

"Maybe that's not their goal? This could be just the beginning of what will amount to a mass extinction?" Rose suggested.

"But Snoke and Kylo Ren are Force users," Finn said. "And the Knights are all Force users. The most powerful people in the First Order would be wiped out!"

"Yeah, it's something else they're planning. They wouldn't destroy their own, unless it's at the command of the new Supreme Leader? Take out any potential contenders?" Poe said.

"We need more information. Poe, you're with me. Finn, Rose, you -"

Rey stopped listening. She backed out of the room, the sick feeling in her gut growing more and more with every step. Had he lied to her after all? He was the Jedi Killer, after all. How much blood must be on his hands. How much more was to come? She pushed her way past the other soldiers, catching snippets of urgent communication. Were they shouting into the void? Would anyone answer their call for support? What possible hope did they have if they were relying on a scavenger from nowhere? She shook her head, trying to erase the doubt.

"You can't go backwards, only forwards," she muttered to herself, repeatedly.

"Or sideways," a voice quipped behind her. She whirled around to find him at her back. How long had he followed her through the corridors of this little hideout? How much had he seen. He must have noticed the panic in her eyes, because he held up both hands.

"Before you run away, I've no idea where you are." In the interest of remaining truthful, Kylo continued. "I can hear what they're saying, though. I doubt anyone will answer their call. But then, so do you, don't you?"

Well and truly terrified, Rey sprinted out of the communications room, down the hall into one place she knew no one would follow her. She ripped the door to the fresher open, and sat heavily on the bathing bench. The walls were still damp from someone's previous shower, and the humidity was stifling. No one from the base would follow her in, but it seemed her intergalactic pen pal had no such qualms. He leaned casually against the sink, looming over her.

"If you'd like privacy, well, too bad right now." Kylo lifted his eyes to something she couldn't see, reaching up to twist it in his fingers.

"Why can you see my environment, but I can't see yours?" Rey asked. Kylo shrugged.

"Dunno." He looked behind him at the door. "What's outside?"

"A dormitory, full of children who are starving and scared and effectively homeless," Rey bit out, then regretted it.

"Homeless? That would pain you, wouldn't it?" Kylo mused softly. "And you? Are you starving and scared?"

"If I were? Would you feed me and tell me everything is fine?" Rey spat. Kylo said nothing, but opened the fresher door. Outside was not the dormitory of children, but his personal quarters again. But the items in the center of the room couldn't have surprised her more. Two cushions placed a few feet apart, with a platter of all manner of what she could only tell by smell was food set to the side. Two plates and two drinking cups.

"Go somewhere that you will be alone. Then come back here." It was clear Kylo meant this odd space the Force created for them, that was neither Florrum nor his ship. "I refuse to eat in a fresher, even if I'm not really in one."

Rey was dumbfounded. She'd heard the expression before, but never could grasp how someone could be "found dumb". But here she was. Wordlessly, she exited the fresher, and tiptoed carefully over the landmine of children, out of the dormitory.

* * *

Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, Supreme Leader of the First Order, son of a princess, and one of the most powerful Force users in the galaxy, was nervous. Why, he couldn't say, but it was the only explanation for his new and uncharacteristic inability to sit still. She likely wouldn't return, though he'd left the door wide open for her, so to speak. Just as he was deciding exactly how humiliated he was going to feel, he heard the soft whisper of her bare feet on the floor behind him. How interesting, this progression of their connection. He hadn't heard the sizzle in the air, felt the almost physical shift of the floor beneath him when they connected. He hoped, fervently, that their newfound ability to interact with objects in the other's environment was not a momentary aberration. Then again, this whole thing was an aberration. Again, Kylo recognized Snoke's lie. There was no way he could have created this.

A brief pause in her movement, and then she stood across from where he was seated. She was wary. He'd give her that. So was he. Enemies sitting down for a meal, in an impossible place that existed between light years of distance?

"Where are you?" Kylo asked, once she sat down, then made to amend his question. He did want to know where in the galaxy she was, but that wasn't what he was asking now. Rey, however, seemed to understand that, or at least, assume.

"The Falcon."

Kylo nodded.

"Hungry?" He gestured to the table beside them. "The last time we spoke, I noticed a feather or two stuck to your hair. Porg, I'd bet." Rey looked up, alarm darkening her features. "I've known it was Ahch-to for a while, Rey. The island from your dreams, the rain, the cave you described to me. Besides, it would be so like Luke to seek solace and meaning in a place he believed to be the first Jedi temple."

Rey leaned forward, her arms reaching for his, her face contorted into fury, fear, and pain.

"Please! Please don't destroy it. Don't hurt the people there! Luke is gone, he's dead. Please!"

Kylo sat still, momentarily stunned. Somehow, he knew Rey had never begged for anything in her life. That she would do so now, give him even that smallest bargaining chip, for a small group of strangers, bewildered him. Moreso, her invasion of his space. She did that more often than she realized, he thought. What must it feel like to be so selfless?

He took her hand from his arm and gently pushed it away.

"I've no intention of going to a remote planet to murder a dwindling community of religious hermits," he said. "I've suspected the location since you confided in me about your experience there. The porg feathers only cemented that belief."

Rey leaned back slowly, but the transformation in her face was remarkable. The fear and anger were slowly displaced by a wary trust. It was at once unexpected and something precious.

"They invaded the Falcon," she said, her voice nearing normal. He snorted. "Now we can't get rid of them." She shrugged. "At least they're cute."

"You're a survivor, though. Surely even you wouldn't refuse to eat something because it's _cute_?" Kylo asked.

"Ah, you've never had the unique pleasure that is porg meat?" Rey said. Was that a smile? Was she smiling? "Chewie can eat it, and possibly some of the others, but humans can't digest it properly."

Kylo's mouth lifted in a half smile.

"I know. I was just curious if you'd tried yet. I doubted it, given that you're smaller now than you were when we first met."

"You've been to Ahch-to?" Rey asked, ignoring his assessment of her health. Kylo shook his head. He lifted the plate in front of her and loaded it up with a healthy sample of everything on the tray, holding it out to her. Rey hesitated, raising her hands to it slowly. Kylo was reminded of the moment she reached to him on the island, her hand, unwavering, but timid in its invitation. Now was the moment of truth. Would the plate fall through her hands the moment it left his? He let it rest in hers, moving his hand away almost as gingerly. She held it between both hands, her eyes wide and mouth open in awe.

"How is this possible?" Rey whispered. He shook his head.

"I don't know." Kylo decided to voice the revelation he'd come to. "But Snoke was a liar, among other things." Rey looked up at him sharply. He finished plating his own food, less than what he'd given her, but the same items. She hadn't touched anything yet, and he wondered if it was fear that it would disappear or fear that it was poisoned. He could alleve one of those at least. He popped a piece of fruit in his mouth. Rey watched him intently, till he swallowed. He waited to eat another, meeting her eyes. She looked down at her plate, her fingers hovering over one bit, then another.

"I don't know what some of this is, to be honest," Kylo said. "But it's not poisoned. I made sure of that."

With one last moment of hesitation, Rey grabbed a bright blue and yellow wedge and stuffed it in her mouth. Her eyes closed as she chewed, and a bit of juice ran down her chin. Kylo swallowed against the sudden dryness in his throat and forced himself to take a drink. What followed was a display of appetite so epic, Kylo wondered that she hadn't just powered through the ill effects of eating porg meat. When she was finished, she wiped her mouth and sighed heavily. Kylo realized he'd been watching her rather than eat his own, and he hurried to empty his plate.

"I should not have done that," Rey said ruefully. "Eating all that on an empty stomach." She shook her head at herself, but nevertheless seemed very satisfied.

"There's sweetwater in that glass," Kylo said. She took it and drained it. Setting it aside, she stared down at her empty plate. "There's plenty if you want more." She shook her head.

"Why?" Rey asked. Kylo paused, a piece of bread half raised to his mouth. Rey gestured to him, to the food, to the galaxy at large, maybe. "Why do this? You're literally feeding your enemy."

Kylo chewed the bread slowly, contemplating his answer. The truth was, he had no idea. He wanted to talk to her, and - though he hated to admit it - Luke had given him the idea that food might facilitate such talk.

"Are we though?" Kylo asked. "Are we only enemies?" He drank the last of the water and set it and his plate aside. "We were never just enemies, Rey."

"You've killed people, people I knew, might have known, friends. You tried to kill me. You are the leader of the First Order, the regime my friends and I are trying to defeat." Rey said this without anger. That it was just a statement of fact somehow hurt more. Anger was easier to deal with. Kylo nodded.

"I did. And I am."

"Then why?" Rey asked again, frustration seeping through her voice.

"Why have I fed you, or why did I try to kill you?"

"Both!" Rey shouted. Kylo stared down at his hands.

"Why did you eat? Why did you not kill me when you had the chance? Chances, I should say," Kylo asked instead.

"I-" Rey began but stopped. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Any second now, one would drop. All she had to do was blink. She closed her eyes, and there it was. Kylo tracked its slide down her cheek to her chin. Furiously, she wiped it away, choking a laugh behind her hand.

"I was hungry," she said softly. "And after Snoke, after - I thought that maybe you would, maybe at some point -" Her mouth opened and closed, trying and failing to find the words. Or maybe she just didn't want to voice them.

"You thought maybe I would feed you," Kylo said softly.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The space between them seemed to expand and contract, its own little universe of possibilities. Rey sniffed hard and wiped at her eyes.

"I wanted to talk to you," Kylo said, louder, trying to regain some semblance of control, and give her the same pretense. "I have information, for you, actually." Rey frowned.

"What?"

"I was able to obtain a list of medical records, curiously for about thirty children, give or take, all procured off various Core planets." He stood up and retrieved his holopad, handing it to her before sitting down again. "It contains a list of each planet they were abducted from."

"Why are you giving this to me?" Rey asked.

"So you see, they're not homeless after all," he continued, not answering her question. "I haven't yet discovered their purpose, but I'm getting there. But now you have a way to take them home."

Rey scrolled through the data, trying to make sense of it, but nothing leapt out at her that screamed _I'M A JEDI!_

"Why don't you just make him tell you? Doesn't he answer to you?" She asked absently.

"Hux knows I killed Snoke. He's ready to broadcast that information to the entire Order," Kylo said curtly. It wasn't something he'd wanted to reveal, but his frustration got the better of him.

"And yet there's a bounty on _my_ head?" Rey asked, indignant. Kylo shrugged.

"There's not a bounty on your head, there's a bounty on your safe, intact, and alive delivery to my ship," Kylo said. There was a difference, and it was important. "I won't ask you where you are, but I will find out."

Rey went very still. It wasn't a threat, it wasn't a promise, it wasn't anything but a statement of fact.

"And what happens then?" Rey asked.

"My offer to you stands."

"And what would this New Order look like, Supreme Leader? Or would it be Emperor?" Ray sneered. "How would you create anything when you can't stop destroying what you already have?"

Kylo leaped to his feet as Rey did the same. They faced each other, the truce of a meal forgotten.

"I'm the Supreme Leader of the First Order," Kylo ground out.

"So you keep saying!"

"You are more than a scavenger from a desert wasteland -"

"Big of you, given I've heard I'm nothing!"

"And if you'd put aside your ego for a moment, you'd see how much more you could be! Everything we could accomplish! You could end all of this! We could end it all! No more war, no forgotten casualties, we could end this!" Kylo drew in a ragged breath. Surely she saw it? He'd seen her beside him in his vision that night. Why could she not understand how it was meant to be? Kylo reached for her arm, gripping her lightly. "I've tried - I've given -" He shook his head. It wasn't what he wanted to say. He licked his lips. "What do you want from me?" He asked softly, plaintive. He thought she wouldn't respond, and then the pain in her eyes hardened into anger.

"I will end this," Rey said, her voice chillingly quiet, implacable. It was as though she'd been made animate from stone. "I will end the war. The injustices you only wish would be changed? I will change them. The ruin you imagine rebuilt? I will rebuild it. The Resistance will prevail. Without you." She covered his hand on her arm with her own, only to throw it off. "I want nothing from you."

Like a gate slamming shut, the connection was severed, and Kylo was alone.


End file.
